Those Silver Eyes
by OldSchoolVinny
Summary: Eight years ago, Ozpin made the biggest mistake of his life. One that cost the life of a great huntress, and another huntress' faith in humanity. (Headcanon prequel) (Character death) (Violence and minor swearing)
1. Prologue

Professor Ozpin was in his office, going through the stack of manuscripts of potential Beacon students. Glynda Goodwitch was out on patrol in the city to look out for any dust robberies happening in the area, as they had received word that one was bound to happen tonight, and when there was a dust robbery, odds are it would be accompanied by a certain former huntress they had been trying to find for years.

His scroll began to ring, and sure enough, it was Goodwitch. Ozpin put down the manuscript he was reading and answered his scroll.

"How did it go?" asked Ozpin.

"The crooks ran away, but none of the dust was stolen," said Goodwitch. "They were also being helped by our old friend."

"Figures," said Ozpin.

"That's not all that happened. Take a look."

Goodwitch sent Ozpin recorded footage of the robbery. As the robbery was taking place, a girl in a red hood appeared and was fighting off the criminals. Despite her age, she was fighting them off with relative ease using a weapon far bigger and advanced for someone like her to be wielding. Ozpin was amazed at the level of skill this kid was capable of.

"Quite impressive," said Ozpin.

"Impressive and dangerous," said Goodwitch. "She could have made things far worse for us. I have her in custody for questioning."

"That seems a bit harsh," said Ozpin. Ozpin grabbed his mug to take a sip of his coffee. "Did you at least get a name first?"

"Her name is Ruby Rose."

Ozpin instantly stopped drinking upon hearing that name. No, thought Ozpin. Could that girl really be who Ozpin thought she was?

"Did you say...Ruby Rose?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Tell me...what color are her eyes?"

"Her eyes? I believe they were silver. I don't see how that's relevant."

Ozpin put down his mug and turned to a photo on his desk. The photo consisted of a younger Ozpin and Goodwitch, along with several of their classmates back in their time as students of Beacon. He focused on one classmate in particular: A woman standing by the front. She had her trademark white hood, light blonde hair, a wide smile on her face, and those shiny silver eyes. The memories of that woman came rushing back all at once.

"Is something wrong?" asked Goodwitch, snapping Ozpin out of his trance.

"Miss Goodwitch, I want you to keep this girl in custody," said Ozpin. "I want to meet her myself."

Ozpin grabbed his cane and scarf, all the while thinking about those silver eyes. Those beautiful, carefree silver eyes of one of the greatest huntresses the world has ever known.

The eyes that have haunted him for the past eight years.


	2. Chapter 1

_Eight years ago_

The infestation was far worse than they thought. When they were sent to the forest just one mile away from the city, they had believed to be twenty beowolves at most; simple enough for two highly skilled hunters to take care of. But after disposing of about fifteen of them, that's when the numbers began to multiply. Twenty had quickly become fifty, and they were all surrounding the two hunters standing back to back, surveying their chances of survival.

"What do we do now?" asked the old man in his black hood, giant scythe in his hands. "We can't keep fighting wave after wave like this, and I doubt backup is going to arrive on time."

"Give it a little more time," said the woman in her long red dress, surrounded by her protective glyph. "If we run now, they'll just chase us down anyway."

"Then she had better get here now," said the old man.

The leader of the pack gave out a loud roar, signaling to his pack to attack the huntsman and huntress. The old man charged towards the beowolf coming at him, and in a quick flash, sliced the wolf in half with his Grimm Ripper. Two more wolves came at him, both meeting the same fate in the blink of an eye. The woman in red fired several fireballs at the wolves coming for her, then created a pillar of fire that burned several of them to ash. But every time one wolf dissolved back into nothingness, another one would appear to take its place. No matter how strong the huntsman and huntress were, it would only be a matter of time before the numbers would be too much to handle.

After disposing of ten more wolves, the old man stopped to catch his breath. That one second pause caused him to be tackled from behind by a new beowolf appearing. The old man fell to the ground as the beowolf lunged on top of him for the kill. The old man held up his scythe and blocked the beowolf's mouth just inches away from his face, struggling to push the beowolf off him. Just when the old man was about to accept his fate of turning back into dust, something came flying in and pierced the beowolf through its neck, killing it instantly. The old man pushed the beowolf off and stood back up. He looked down and noticed the object sticking out of the soulless creature: a bright red rose.

The woman in red continued to use her fire magic to fight off the beowolves until it got to the point where her aura was close to being depleted. She wanted to keep fighting, but didn't even have the strength to stand up let alone fight. She fell to her knees, sweating profusely and losing her breath. Three beowolves gathered in front of her and charged to attack when they were all suddenly pierced through their chests by wooden stakes suddenly sprouting from the ground. The rest of the beowolves began to run away.

The woman turned behind her to see her ally standing beside her, using her semblance of nature to finish off the beowolves.

"Sorry I'm late," said the huntress in her white hood. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," said the woman in the red dress. "Just exhausted."

The huntress in white helped her partner get back to her feet. While her partner was happy to see her arrive, the old man was not as joyful.

"You always do this Summer," said the old man. "Sometimes I think you're doing this on purpose."

"Good to see you too Qrow," said Summer. "So how many of these things do we have left?"

"God only knows," sighed Qrow. "Cinder and I were told twenty, and now that's not even close to half of the ones we've come across. We should get out of here while we still can."

"Aw, but I just got here!" pouted Summer.

"Only you can be upset at not having to fight these things," said Qrow. "We need to leave and come up with a better plan."

"Too late for that," said Cinder, pointing in the direction of more oncoming beowolves. As the new wave of beowolves began to surround them, Qrow switched his scythe to gun mode and loaded it with his high caliber sniper rounds, Cinder created a protective glyph around herself, and Summer took out her small one-handed battle axe. While Qrow and Cinder had a look of seriousness on their face, Summer was smirking.

"I can't remember the last time I felt this kind of rush," said Summer.

"Just don't let it get to your head," said Qrow.

"Alright team, let's do this!" shouted Summer, charging towards the beowolves in front of her.

#

It had taken longer than expected, but with the help of Summer the mission was completed successfully. The three hunters were back in the Vale Hunters Station, where Qrow was causing a scene by yelling at anyone he could find, demanding to see the person responsible for setting up the mission. Cinder and Summer were sitting in the lobby, embarrassed by Qrow's behavior. At this rate they would consider it a miracle if the three of them ever got hired again, let alone get paid.

"Leave it to Qrow to jeopardize our future as huntresses," said Cinder.

"He always was the hothead of the family," said Summer.

"Speaking of, how has your family been? It's been a while since I last saw you and the kids."

"A handful as always. Yang still refuses to get a haircut and Ruby is constantly practicing her semblance around the house. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen her crash into a wall."

"The joy of motherhood," replied Cinder sarcastically. "I'm so glad I remained a huntress."

"Joke all you want," said Summer, "but I don't regret a single moment of it."

After the commotion had died down, Qrow appeared with their paychecks in hand.

"I convinced them to give us a raise in our pay," said Qrow.

"I don't want to know how," said Summer. "Let's just get out of here already."

The three of them took their paychecks and left the station. Cinder said her goodbyes and went home. Summer and Qrow were on their way to Summer's house.

"So will you be staying for dinner?" asked Summer.

"I've got to meet with Ozpin and have a talk about this mission," said Qrow, causing Summer to moan.

"We got our pay, it's done. Can't you just drop it already? Besides, Ozpin wasn't the one who set up that mission."

"But he is the one who convinced us to do it. This is just as much as his mistake as the ones who did."

Summer decided to drop the subject, not wanting to hear Qrow go on and on about Ozpin's mistakes.

As they were walking down the street, they noticed a large gathering of protestors near a restaurant. It was the Faunus rights group the White Fang, holding up signs and demanding people stay away from the place because they excluded Faunus from eating there. Some of the people near the restaurant started to yell slurs back at the protestors. It was a sight that Summer always hated seeing.

"I can't believe we still live in a time where the Faunus are treated like this," said Summer.

"Don't get involved in this," said Qrow. "If people see you as a Faunus sympathizer, they'll think you're a member of the Black Paw."

Summer deeply hated those kinds of accusations. The Black Paw were a Faunus militant group who took actions that the White Fang never would. The Black Paw were formed by ex-members of the White Fang who believed the group was going nowhere in their battle for Faunus equality. Where the White Fang tried to be peaceful via protests and boycotts, the Black Paw used violence and terrorism. Whenever there was an attack carried out by the Black Paw, it got the people riled up against the Faunus and anyone who sympathized with their cause. The White Fang had stated multiple times they have nothing to do with the Black Paw, but those words usually fell on deaf ears.

Summer and Qrow were about to leave when Summer watched one of the people pick up a big rock and hurl it at the protestors. The rock hit a little girl right in the forehead. The little girl fell to her knees holding her forehead. Some of the protestors gathered around the girl to make sure she was okay while the rock thrower and his friends were cheering. Seeing this caused Summer to snap.

Before Qrow can say another word, Summer ran over to the man who threw the rock. Summer grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" yelled Summer. The man's friends started grabbing Summer and pulled her away. Summer turned to one of the men trying to grab her and punched him in the face. Soon more people started trying to attack Summer, which caused some of the protestors to jump in and start fighting as well. Before things got even worse, a loud gunshot was fired nearby. Everyone suddenly stopped to see Qrow firing his weapon in the air.

"That's enough!" yelled Qrow. "You want to fight someone, try fighting me!"

All the humans quickly backed away, still trying to yell slurs and other obscenities at Summer and the White Fang. The protestors started to go away as well, not wanting to be arrested when the police showed up. Once the scene had calmed down, Summer went up to the little girl being protected by the protestors; she had short black hair with cat ears sticking out of her head. The girl was covering her forehead and crying. Summer kneeled down and held the girl by her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" asked Summer. "Are you bleeding?"

"It hurts!" moaned the girl.

"I'm here to help. My name is Summer. What's your name?"

"B...Blake."

"Okay Blake, I need you to put down your hands so I can see your wound. Can you do that for me?"

The girl opened her eyes to look up at Summer. Despite Summer's calm tone, Blake was too scared to remove her hands.

"Calm down Blake. I'm going to fix your wound, but I can't fix it if you're covering it up."

"You'll...you'll really fix it?"

"I promise."

"O...okay."

Blake slowly removed her hands from her forehead, revealing the cut in her forehead, which thankfully wasn't too deep. Summer grabbed her first aid kit she kept for hunting and first cleaned the blood off of Blake's hand and forehead. She then grabbed some peroxide and applied it to a cloth. She pressed the cloth against the wound, causing Blake to wince at the sting of the peroxide. Once the wound was clean, Summer put antibacterial ointment on a bandage and applied the bandage across Blake's forehead. After she was done, Summer smiled at Blake.

"Feeling better?" asked Summer.

"Th...thank you miss Summer," said Blake.

"You're welcome Blake," said Summer. Summer held out her arm and suddenly produced a rose out of her sleeve, handing it to Blake. "This is for being a good patient."

Blake was mesmerized by Summer's trick. She took the rose and smelled it. Even though it had no thorns, it was indeed a real rose. Before Blake can thank Summer, a tall boy with red hair suddenly ran up to Blake.

"Blake, are you okay?" asked the boy.

"I'm okay Adam," said Blake. Noticing the bandage on Blake's forehead, Adam turned angrily to Summer and Qrow.

"Did they do this to you?" said Adam.

"No!" said Blake. "She...she helped me."

"Hello," greeted Summer. "My name is Summer."

"Get lost!" yelled Adam.

"Excuse me?"

"We don't need help from human scum like you!" yelled Adam.

"But Adam-" said Blake, before interrupted by Qrow.

"How dare you! You do not talk to adults like that."

"Screw you old man!"

"Old man?" yelled Qrow. Qrow hated when anybody called him old based on his looks, even though he wasn't that much older than Summer. Qrow had the urge to discipline Adam the hard way when Summer got in front of him to calm him down.

"Let's just go brother. We're done here."

Qrow and Summer walked away, Qrow swearing under his breath about being called old. Adam grabbed Blake and started walking home.

#

As they arrived at Summer's home, Qrow left to go meet with Ozpin. Summer asked him to stay to at least say hi to the kids, but he insisted on meeting Ozpin immediately. Summer entered through the living room where Ruby and Yang were playing, fighting each other with foam weapons pretending to be huntresses. Ruby was dressed just like her mother, wearing her red hood over her dress, while Yang was in her usual casual attire of a t-shirt and jeans.

"Look at you two go," said Summer. "You'll be expert huntresses in no time."

As soon as she saw her mother, Ruby dropped her weapon and ran over to hug Summer. Summer bent down to pick up Ruby and hug her.

"Mommy! I missed you!" said Ruby.

"I missed you too dear," said Summer.

"So what was the mission like?" asked Yang. "How many Grimm did you kill? Did you have to save uncle Qrow again?"

"Where is uncle Qrow?" asked Ruby.

"One question at a time girls!" said Summer, putting Ruby down and sitting on the couch. Both Ruby and Yang jumped on the couch on each side of Summer, eager to hear Summer's latest mission. Summer always loved this part of coming home.

"Tell us what happened mommy!" said Ruby.

"Okay, so there we were surrounded by beowolves-"

"How many beowolves?" interrupted Ruby.

"Ruby, stop interrupting!" said Yang. "So how many beowolves?"

"Let's see...maybe twenty, thirty of them? And these were the really tough ones! Cinder and Qrow had already taken out a few waves, but they just kept coming and coming. They didn't seem to stand a chance until I showed up! They stayed together to fight them from a distance, while I charged at the first pack I saw coming! One of them tried to take a swing at me..."

Summer got up and picked up the foam axe that Ruby was playing with. Ruby and Yang always loved the part where Summer would start reenacting her fights.

"So I ducked and took one mighty swing!" said Summer, ducking and swinging in exactly the way she described. "Down it went! And the rest came at me! So I took another swing!" Summer swung again, which caused Ruby and Yang to cheer. "These Grimm thought they were so tough, but they didn't stand a chance against Summer Rose! But then..." Summer gasped and widened her eyes, causing Ruby and Yang to do the same thing. "Then came the BIG one!"

"Not the big one!" said Yang, starting to sound worried.

"Oh yes, and we're talking BIG!" said Summer, extending her arms as high as she could.

"Is that when you used your sim-balance?" asked Ruby.

"Semblance, Ruby," corrected Yang. "SEM, BLANCE."

"Right, your...sem, blance?" said Ruby.

"Oh yes," said Summer. "That nasty old wolf thought he had us, but that's when-"

"It's dinner time!" shouted their father from the kitchen.

"Guess we'll have to finish later," said Summer, causing her daughters to moan.

"But I wanna know what happened!" begged Ruby.

"I'll tell you right after dinner," said Summer. Ruby and Yang ran into the kitchen and started eating right away, trying to finish dinner as fast as they could.

"Don't eat like that!" said their father. "You're going to get sick!"

As if on cue, Ruby started to choke on her food, causing Yang to slap her in the back to spit it out. The two of them then ate at a normal pace while their father gave them a lecture. Summer took a good look at her family and smiled.

"Not a single moment," she whispered to herself.

#

Once Qrow had arrived at Beacon academy, he went straight to Ozpin's office located in the clock tower. Instead of waiting to be let in or knocking, he simply opened the door and let himself in as Ozpin and Goodwitch were going over some paperwork. Goodwitch took it as her cue to leave.

"Good evening Qrow," she said on her way out.

"Likewise," replied Qrow. Once Goodwitch left the room, Qrow turned his attention to Ozpin, leaning back and drinking from his favorite mug.

"So I've heard there was a minor problem with the mission I provided for you," said Ozpin.

"A MINOR problem?" said Qrow, having zero patience with Ozpin. "Is that what you call underestimating how many Grimm we had to face?"

"I had a feeling there may have been more than reported. That's why I gave the mission to you and Cinder. I figured sending out an elite huntsman and huntress would be more than enough to do the job, and if things got worse, Summer would be there to help out."

"So I guess that makes everything okay then?" asked Qrow rhetorically.

"You completed the mission didn't you?" replied Ozpin. Qrow slammed his arms on Ozpin's desk, to which Ozpin didn't react, instead just taking another sip of his coffee.

"You really don't get why I'm so pissed off, do you?"

"You're always pissed off Qrow. You need to learn to relax more often. That's why you look much older than you should."

"The reason I'm pissed off is because you made a big mistake. There's a huge difference between fighting twenty Grimm and fighting one hundred. That's the kind of mistake that gets people killed."

Ozpin set his mug down and stood up to face Qrow.

"If it's an apology you want, then I'm sorry. Next time I will perform extra due diligence in finding missions you can actually handle. Or perhaps I just need to hire a better huntsman."

Qrow grabbed Ozpin by the collar of his scarf and pulled him closer to his face, staring straight into his eyes. "You may not take me seriously, but one of these days Ozpin, you're going to make a mistake you can't erase."

Qrow let go of Ozpin and walked out of his office. As soon as he left, Goodwitch came back in as Ozpin was fixing the stuff that had fallen over on his desk.

"What was he mad about this time?" asked Goodwitch.

"He's upset over a misinformed mission," said Ozpin. "So you know, the usual."

"I have to say sir, you should do a better job finding more about these missions before handing them off to other huntsmen and huntresses to complete."

"If I didn't think there was a possibility that the mission could have been worse, I would have given it to a less experienced huntsman."

As Ozpin was fixing his desk, he picked up a frame containing of photo of him and his classmates from their earlier years. Amongst the people in the photo were Qrow, Summer, and Cinder, smiling along with everybody else.

"Sometimes I wonder what happened between now and then. Back then we were all looking forward to being huntsmen and huntresses, going out there and fighting monsters. Now I can't remember the last time I've ever seen him smile."

"Maybe all those years on the job are doing him in," said Goodwitch. "Being a huntsman or huntress is a very taxing job, both physically and mentally."

"Hmph," said Ozpin. "Personally I think he's just becoming a dusty old man."

#

Usually the night after a big hunting mission, Summer would sleep well into the double digits. But this morning she wound up waking up at the crack of dawn due to a sudden beeping from her scroll. Summer cursed to herself for forgetting to turn off her scroll. Her husband was already up making the kids' breakfast and getting their school stuff ready. She sat up and picked up her scroll. It was a message from Qrow: "WATCH THE NEWS."

"The heck is he talking about?" wondered Summer. Summer got up and quickly got dressed, then went into the living room where her husband was watching the news. It was a breaking news report that showed a building looking destroyed.

"This is the scene from last night when a car bomb exploded outside the restaurant The Marrow. At least three people have died from the explosion, with over thirty more suffering injuries, some in critical condition."

As the news was interviewing people around the area at the time, Summer realized that was the same restaurant the White Fang was protesting yesterday, which could only mean one thing: It was an attack by the Black Paw. It wouldn't be long until everyone would be on edge and blame any Faunus and Faunus sympathizer they could find.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I've just received word that we are about to air an video the station received from the Black Paw, the group responsible for the attack."

The news cut to a video with a man standing in an empty room. The back wall had a white flag with a black paw print on it, the symbol of the Black Paw. The man in the video was wearing a soldier uniform, had black hair that looked like a lion's mane completely surrounding his head, and a giant scar over his closed left eye.

"You refuse to serve our kind. You look down on us and think of us as monsters. While we starve and fight for our survival, you stuff your faces with food paid by the blood of the Faunus you force to work. Now it is your blood that is paid. These attacks will continue until the Faunus are given one hundred percent equality. The Black Paw will strike again."

As the new continued to report on the attack, Summer checked the time and realized the kids would be up at any moment. Summer went behind the TV and unplugged it.

"What are you doing?" asked her husband.

"Making sure our kids don't watch this," said Summer. As soon as she said that, they heard the sounds of little footsteps coming down the stairs and into the living room.

"Time for Pumpkin Pete!" said Ruby, plopping down on the couch and waiting to see her favorite morning cartoon.

"Sorry ladies, but the TV isn't working," said Summer.

"But I wanna watch Pumpkin Pete!" said Ruby.

"I'm afraid they'll be no Pumpkin Pete this morning. Now go eat your breakfast and get ready for school."

"Oooh," moaned Ruby as she slunk into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" asked Yang. "Why doesn't the TV work?"

"It just doesn't work anymore," said Summer.

"But it was working-"

"Yang, just go eat your breakfast and get ready for school," said her father. Yang gave them a suspicious look before joining Ruby in the kitchen.

About an hour later the school bus arrived to pick up Ruby and Yang. Summer said her goodbyes to her kids as they got on the bus and headed for school. Summer hoped that news of the incident would not spread like wildfire across the school; the last thing she wanted was for her kids to be worried about what was going to happen, or start to get the wrong ideas about the Faunus.

Once the school bus was gone, Summer checked her scroll to see she got a voice message from Ozpin.

"Summer, meet me in front of the Schnee Manor at noon today. We have very important issues to discuss."


	3. Chapter 2

Summer arrived at the front gate of the Schnee manor located just outside of the city. The manor was surrounded by a wide grassy landscape, with a stone path leading up to the house. In front of the house waiting to enter were Ozpin, Qrow, and Cinder.

"So what's this about?" asked Summer.

"You know that restaurant that got attacked?" said Qrow. "It happens to be owned by the Schnee family."

"Still don't see what it has to do with us."

"The Schnees probably want hired protection," said Cinder. "They are public enemy number one in the eyes of the Faunus."

"From the things I've heard about the Schnees, I can understand why."

The front door of the mansion opened up. The four huntsmen and huntresses were greeted by one of the manor's many butlers, who guided them through the mansion to meet with Mr. Schnee. As they were walking through, Summer took in the sights and height of the mansion. Nearly everything in the mansion had a shade of white, from the tiled floors to the walls to the staircases. Summer couldn't believe just how big some of the rooms were; she lived in apartments smaller than them. It felt less like a mansion and more like a castle; Summer wondered why anyone would need to live in a place this big.

The four arrived in the office of Mr. Schnee. Just like everything else, the room seemed much bigger than it needed to be. The office had its own furniture, a fireplace, and paintings of various members of the Schnee family throughout the ages. Mr. Schnee was sitting by his desk along with a small girl in a white dress.

"Glad to see you arrive," greeted Mr. Schnee. "Weiss, these are the huntsmen that are going to help your father. Say hello to them."

Weiss stood up and greeted the four of them. "Hello everyone," she said, doing a curtsy with her dress.

"Well aren't you a polite young lady," said Summer, "and so cute too."

Weiss' face started to turn red. She rarely heard a compliment like that from a total stranger.

"Th-thank you, Miss...?"

"Summer. A polite lady like yourself deserves a gift." Summer held out her arm and produced a thornless white rose, handing it to Weiss. Weiss was amazed by Summer's trick as she took the rose and smelled it.

"Weiss, father is going to have his meeting now. Go downstairs and begin practicing your fencing."

"Yes father," said Weiss, leaving the room immediately.

The four of them sat down in fancy chairs in front of Mr. Schnee, who reached into his desk and pulled out an envelope full of papers. The first stack of papers he took out had an attached photo of the Black Paw leader that appeared on the news this morning.

"I take it you all know who he is?" asked Mr. Schnee.

"Jamar Barbary," said Ozpin. "Leader of the Black Paw, and one of the most wanted criminals in the world."

"And no one wants him more than I do. That man and his filthy horde have attacked several of my companies, and all I can do is sit back and watch. That is until now."

Mr. Schnee pulled out several more papers and handed them out to his four guests. The papers contained information about the Black Paw, including their supposed whereabouts.

"So these places are where the Black Paw are currently hiding?" asked Ozpin.

"As far as my knowledge, yes. Furthermore, I've been able to find out what future plans that disgusting Barbary has. Now I am the one who is one step ahead, and I'm going to put an end to these detestable Faunus once and for all."

Summer had a bad feeling she knew where this was going. Not wanting to cause a scene, Summer stood up and put the papers back on Mr. Schnee's desk.

"I'm sorry, but I need to step out for a moment," said Summer, turning to leave. Worried about what she was doing, Cinder stood up and caught up with Summer before she left the room.

"Is something wrong?" whispered Cinder.

"You know what he's going to ask of us to do, right? I'm not going to do it."

"You don't know that for sure."

"Listen to him Cinder. Putting an end to 'detestable' Faunus? I will not be a part of it."

"Is something wrong Miss Summer?" asked Mr. Schnee. Everyone in the room was now facing Summer and Cinder. Summer turned back to face Mr. Schnee.

"Nothing is wrong. Please, continue the meeting without me."

"I'd rather you stay and listen. I'm going to need the help of all the elite class huntsmen."

Summer turned to face Mr. Schnee with a displeased look on her face. "I'm not interested."

"Excuse me?"

"Summer, what's this about?" asked Qrow.

"I know why he wanted to meet us; he wants us to go out and kill the Faunus! Mr. Schnee, with all due respect, if you want to hire someone to kill the Faunus, go hire mercenaries. I'm a huntress."

Mr. Schnee stood up and slowly walked towards Summer. "Miss Rose, these aren't just some random scoundrels we're talking about. These are vile terrorists out to not only destroy my company, but any innocent civilians that get in their way! Are you saying you're on the side of terrorists Miss Rose? Do you know the kind of damage the Faunus have caused, and what they'll continue to do unless we stop them?"

"As if you're one to talk!" replied Summer, walking up to Mr. Schnee and getting up to his face, causing Qrow and Ozpin to stand up in case Summer did something she was going to regret.

"You think the Black Paw...no, all of the Faunus are nothing but scum? You want to see what true scum looks like, go look into a mirror!"

The others gasped, thinking Mr. Schnee was going to blow his top at Summer. Instead, Mr. Schnee just snickered and spoke in a calming tone of voice.

"I get it. You're one of those Faunus sympathizers; the kind who latch on to every negative rumor and false story about the Schnees and take it as a fact. Well Miss Rose, if that's how you feel about me, feel free to show yourself out the door. In fact, take a tour of my mansion and make yourself at home. We'll let you know when the meeting is done."

Mr. Schnee turned around and walked back to his desk. Summer was filled with so much rage and contempt that she was ready to just lunge at him for the way he talked down to her. Knowing what her partner was thinking, Cinder grabbed Summer by the wrist as a way to tell her not to do it. Summer turned and left Mr. Schnee's office, slamming the door on her way out.

Summer decided she would wait until the meeting was done before leaving the manor, so she began to walk around the gigantic mansion. The more she looked around at all the expensive furnishings and the constant staff working around the house, the more it sickened her. It was such a beautiful place to live, yet the reason for its creation was an ugly truth.

Summer's roaming of the mansion eventually led her to a training room. The room was about the size of a tennis court, and had various equipment and padding surrounding the room. In the middle of the room she saw Weiss in fencing gear and practicing against a dummy. Summer was impressed with the way the girl handled using her weapon despite being so young and small. After she was done practicing, Summer walked in and started clapping with approval. Weiss was surprised to hear someone clapping much less suddenly showing up.

"You're really good for a girl your age," said Summer.

"Hello Miss Summer," said Weiss, folding her hands in front of her and bowing to Summer. "Shouldn't you be talking with my father?"

"We've...decided to stop talking," said Summer. As much as she hated Mr. Schnee right now, she didn't want to bad talk the man in front of his child. Summer quickly tried to change the subject.

"That was very impressive the way you used that rapier. How long have you been practicing?"

"About two years."

"So why take up fencing?"

"Father is training me to become a huntress."

"Really? So one day you'll be out there fighting monsters like me?"

"I guess. Father says it's more about being ready to run his company when I grow up."

Summer wasn't quite sure how to react. The more Weiss talked about her father and her training, the more Summer began to think Weiss' father was using her to further his own goals. Nevertheless, she wouldn't let Weiss know what she was really thinking.

"Well whatever you do growing up, I'm sure you'll be great at it."

"Miss Summer, may I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"How do you do that thing with the rose?"

"Oh, you mean this?" Summer held out her arm and produced a bright red rose out of her sleeve. "That's my semblance. I can use my aura to control nature and create plant life."

"Can you create any plant you want?"

"If I tried hard enough, but I usually just make roses." Summer rotated the rose to show the sharp thorns sticking out on the sides. "They're pretty to look at, but dangerous to touch."

"Would you like to see my semblance?"

"I'd love to!"

Weiss took a deep breath and pointed to the wall with two fingers stretched out. A small white glyph appeared on the wall. Weiss walked up to the wall and put one foot against the glyph. She then lifted her other foot up and was now standing on the wall with the glyph, causing Summer to ooh in amazement. Weiss created another glyph against the wall and stepped on that, still remaining horizontal in the air. She continued to make glyph after glyph and walking against the wall until she reached the ceiling, and then started to walk on that. Summer couldn't believe how well Weiss was able to use her semblance. Now on the ceiling, Weiss took another deep breath and made the glyph disappear. Summer panicked and thought Weiss was going to fall when another glyph suddenly appeared in mid-air. Weiss rotated herself and landed safely on the glyph. She created more glyphs to jump onto and jumped safely to the ground.

"Wow Weiss, that was amazing!" said Summer. "At your age I wasn't even half as good with my semblance! You should be proud of yourself!"

"You think so?" asked Weiss.

"Of course! Why would you not think so?"

"Father says I have a long way to go before I become good."

It figures, thought Summer. Summer was starting to get a good idea of the kind of man Mr. Schnee was, and unless the next thing she heard about him was him donating billions to charity or saving a burning orphanage, nothing Weiss would say about her father would surprise Summer.

As the two of them were talking, a butler came into the room.

"Would lady Schnee like to have something to drink?"

"I'll have a water please," said Weiss.

"As for you Miss Rose?"

"I'll get something myself," said Summer.

"If you insist." Summer followed the butler into the kitchen. Weiss decided to take a break from her training and follow Summer.

The two of them took their waters and sat across from each other at the dining room table, which Summer could swear was bigger than her entire kitchen. With the others still having their meeting, Summer decided to keep talking to Weiss.

"Say Weiss, how come you're not at school?" she asked.

"Father has me homeschooled," replied Weiss. "He says it's too dangerous for someone like me to be outside with all those Faunus out there."

Summer nearly spat up her water at the mention of the Faunus. Remembering that she was talking to a child and not her father, Summer quickly calmed herself down.

"You don't think the Faunus are actually dangerous do you?"

"Father says the Faunus are monsters. They're the ones who attack our family and friends. The Faunus hate us."

"Not all of the Faunus out there are monsters. I'm friends with several Faunus."

Weiss gasped and was shocked to hear what Summer said. "You're...friends with Faunus?"

"Of course I am."

Summer notice Weiss lowering her head and looking away, and gripping her glass tighter. It was like Summer had upset Weiss.

"What's wrong?" asked Summer.

Weiss spoke up while still looking away from Summer. "Father says Faunus sympathizers are just as bad as the Faunus."

"Weiss, do you think I'm a bad person?"

Weiss took a few moments before answering Summer. "No."

"Do I look like someone who would hurt innocent people?"

"No."

"So don't you think that maybe your father might be wrong about Faunus sympathizers?"

"But the Faunus are bad people!" she yelled, suddenly turning to Summer and slamming her glass on the table. "They hurt other people for no reason, and they're always mean to my family! They..."

Suddenly Weiss began forming tears in her eyes. "They're the reason father is mad all the time! My father is never happy because of them! I wish...I wish the Faunus would just go away!"

Summer didn't know what to say. She hated the things Weiss was saying and wanted to tell her how wrong she was, but at the same time, she was only a child who didn't fully understand the ongoing struggles between the Faunus and the humans. It also didn't help that everything Weiss seemed to know about the Faunus came from her father, which was as one-sided of an argument as it got.

Before Summer could say anything, Mr. Schnee and the others walked in. Hearing her father come in, Weiss quickly tried to wipe her eyes dry before standing up and greeting her father. Despite her best efforts, Mr. Schnee noticed Weiss' eyes becoming irritated.

"Hello father."

"Hello my dear. Is something bothering you?"

"No father. I simply took a small break from training."

Mr. Schnee looked back to Summer, who averted making eye contact from Mr. Schnee.

"Weiss, go wait for father in his office, okay?"

"Okay," said Weiss, running off to Mr. Schnee's office.

"Miss Rose, care to explain what you said to upset my daughter?"

Summer got up from her chair and made her way to Mr. Schnee. Sensing things were about to get bad, Qrow made sure to position himself near them just in case one decided to get physical with the other.

"I was simply trying to explain how not all of the Faunus are dangerous, disgusting monsters like you believe them to be. Tell me Mr. Schnee, what kind of example are you trying to set for your child?"

Qrow was wise to get between them, as the moment Mr. Schnee heard Summer mention his daughter, he had a look on his face like he wanted to murder Summer right then and there. He was about to get close to Summer when Qrow held out his arm and kept Mr. Schnee back.

"Miss Rose," said , holding his finger up towards Summer, "you can say anything about me, to me, all you want. But do NOT lecture me about how to raise my children! Now please show yourself off my property before I send people to do it for you!"

Summer didn't hesitate to turn around and leave.

"I'm sorry for my sister's behavior," said Qrow. "She can be really passionate about this kind of thing."

"Believe me, I've dealt with far worse than her," said Mr. Schnee.

The four of them regrouped outside of the manor gate, where Summer was still furious with having to be in the same presence as that man.

"That was pretty low even for you Summer," said Cinder.

"I'm sorry," said Summer, "but I just can't stand that man."

"I'm not a fan of him myself," said Ozpin, "but he did offer us a job to do."

"Surely you said you weren't going to accept it," said Summer.

"Actually, we did."

Summer was surprised at Ozpin's response. She looked at her team as if she had just been betrayed.

"How could you Ozpin?" exclaimed Summer. "How could any of you decide to do it?"

"A job's a job," said Qrow. "Not to mention he's paying us more than our last ten missions combined."

"So you're all right with murdering others as long as the money's good?"

"Welcome to being a huntsman," replied Qrow.

Summer had a lingering feeling Qrow would accept. Qrow never had any qualms with the missions he was given as long as he got paid and the information was legit. But what was really starting to upset Summer was Cinder.

"What about you Cinder? Are you a sell out as well?"

"Of course not!" exclaimed Cinder, appalled that Summer would ever accuse her of that.

"Then why take the job when you of all people knew how I felt?"

"I took it because I was thinking of you!"

"What?" said Summer, baffled by Cinder's excuse.

"Summer, you've seen what the Black Paw has done. They aren't the kind of people who are going to back down peacefully. Could you imagine if the next attack killed someone you loved?"

"That doesn't mean you have to stoop to their level! I thought you would be better than this. I would think any of you would be better than this. I guess I'm the only one who actually cares about being a true huntress."

Summer turned around and was about to walk away from the group when Ozpin put a hand on Summer's shoulder to stop her.

"Summer, I have my reasons for doing this, and I'll gladly explain them to you. Come with me to Beacon."

Summer wanted to just go straight home and forget everything that happened today, but Ozpin usually did have a reason behind any of his decisions.

"Okay," said Summer.

#

Summer and Ozpin arrived at Beacon academy. Even though she hadn't stepped foot on campus in years, all the familiar memories came rushing back. Despite all the hard work and training she went through, these were the best years of her life outside of raising her family. The two of them walked around the campus as students were either studying or running around goofing off.

"Summer," said Ozpin, "I know how much you support the Faunus, and I know how you refuse to take any mission that isn't Grimm related. With that said though, I really believe you should reconsider your decision."

"Then you don't know me as well as you think Ozpin," said Summer. "What exactly makes you believe I'm going to change my mind?"

"Take a look around you Summer," said Ozpin, stopping in place and holding his arm out towards the field of students. "What do you see out there?"

Summer turned to see the students on campus, but didn't understand what Ozpin was trying to say. "Your students?"

"Notice anything about them?"

Summer kept looking, but she still didn't get it.

"What am I looking at?"

"Save the occasional bully, you don't see any fighting or segregation between the humans and Faunus. These kids don't know what it's like to grow up in a time of war."

Summer looked again, and that's when she noticed how the students hanging out with each other were a mix of humans and Faunus. Summer had gotten so used to seeing humans and Faunus as one in the same that she had forgotten there was once a time where seeing something like this was considered controversial. Those were the times in Beacon she had tried to forget.

"It still feels like yesterday to me when this school had to be divided between humans and Faunus," explained Ozpin. "The Faunus were treated like second-class citizens in a school they signed up to be a part of. Even after the war ended it took years for Beacon to finally come to its senses."

"I remember all too well," said Summer. "Like how we were told to never be in contact with each other or else we'd be accused of 'being in bed with the enemy.' There were so many times I wanted to quit this school in protest."

"These kids are fortunate to not have the burdens we had growing up. However, that could come to an end very soon because of the Black Paw."

Ozpin decided to sit down on the grass. Summer sat down alongside him.

"The Black Paw are trying to instigate another war. They believe Faunus equality cannot be obtained unless blood is shed. They think they are helping the Faunus, but in reality are just making things worse. When the first war ended, it gave rise to the White Fang in the hopes of bridging peace between humans and Faunus. If a second war between Faunus and humans were to break out, it will be more catastrophic than the first."

Summer could only imagine what that would be like. Most of the first war had happened while she lived at Beacon, and remembered having to hear the latest news of the war every day. Most of the professors had come in and out of school in order to serve in the war; some of them never came back. She heard stories of graduated seniors immediately getting drafted, and how some of them were never the same after experiencing the war at such a young age. Summer had prayed every night that the war would end before her graduation came, and thankfully it was answered.

"Would you want your children to grow up the way we did? Having to witness the violence and segregation that spread out in the cities, being labeled terrorists if they tried to be friendly with the Faunus? Or what about the Faunus you help support? No doubt they'll be sent off to camps so big brother can keep an eye on them at all times."

Summer had almost forgotten about her own children. This morning she had tried to keep them from knowing what was going on to avoid scaring them, but it wasn't something she was going to realistically do forever, especially if a war was going to break out. Then there was the Faunus children like the ones she met yesterday. The girl seemed to trust humans, but that boy held major contempt against them, even for people like Summer who simply tried to help. Then there was Mr. Schnee's daughter, who held that same level of contempt, only it was against the Faunus. The mere thought of seeing these kids grow up and go to war against each other was frightening to Summer.

"I don't want to teach these next generation of huntsmen and huntresses how to fight in a war against their fellow man; I want to teach them how to fight monsters. That's why I'm going to help Schnee, and I'm going to enlist the best huntsmen and huntresses I know. If we stop Barbary and the Black Paw, we can prevent a second Faunus war."

Ozpin turned aside and looked Summer straight into her bright, silver eyes. "So what do you say Summer? Will you help me or are you still going to back out?"

Summer wasn't sure what to do. Ozpin had made his point about doing it for the next generation of huntsmen and huntresses, but at the same time, he was going to achieve it through nearly unforgivable means. In other words, Ozpin was ready for war, the one thing Summer hated above all else.

"I'll think about it," said Summer.

"Take your time," said Ozpin. "We've got at least three days before Mr. Schnee's plan goes into action. Let me know if you change your mind."

#

Whenever Summer was too stressed and needed time to herself, she would take a trip to the snow forest. Aside from the occasional Grimm, it was a serene place that felt disconnected from the rest of the world. After leaving Beacon, Summer decided to come here and make up her mind on what she was going to do. She stood on the cliff and stared into the black void of night, slowly breathing in and out to absorb the fresh cold air into her body.

Her catharsis was broken when she heard footsteps coming up behind her. Assuming it was a Grimm, Summer grabbed her axe and turned around to face her threat, only to find out it was Cinder. Summer breathed a sigh of relief and put her axe away.

"What are you doing here?" asked Summer.

"Checking on you," said Cinder. "Usually when you come here it's never good."

"I just needed to gather my thoughts." Summer turned around and stared back into the void over the cliff. "Look out there. Can't see a thing at this time of night, and no noise except the sounds of nature. It's like clearing your head of all thoughts."

"Still thinking about that mission?"

Summer didn't respond, not that she needed to.

"Summer, believe me, I took that mission because I honestly believe it's the right thing to do. The Black Paw is a threat to humanity, and whenever I think about these so-called threats against humanity, you're the first person I think of. I could care less what the Schnees or even myself gain from it; as long as people like you are safe."

Cinder was hoping for a better response from Summer than the one she got at the manor. Instead, Summer kneeled down and laid flat on her back on the snow, looking up at the pitch black sky as the tiny snowflakes landed on her face. Cinder continued to stand as she didn't like the snow.

"Cinder, can you remember why you wanted to become a huntress?"

"Of course. To fight for humanity's survival, and make a good living doing it."

"I did it for three reasons. The first was because the thought of going out there and fighting monsters sounded awesome. It was dangerous sure, but that just made it all the more thrilling. The second was because I would be doing real good for humanity. I would be like the fairy tale heroes I read to my kids when they were little. I could be someone they'd be really proud of to look up to."

"And you've done both very well."

"But you see, if I wanted dangerous thrills and doing good, I didn't have to become a huntress. I could of become a number of things. I could be a cop or a soldier or serve under the royal families of the kingdoms. You want to guess what reason number three is?"

Cinder didn't respond. She had a feeling she knew, but thought it would be better to simply let Summer say it herself.

"Because if there's one thing I can't stand, it's killing another human being."

Summer created a rose and held it close to her chest, slowly picking the petals off one by one.

"You know what class I hated the most in Beacon? History. I hated it because every class I'd be reminded of all the terrible things we've done to get this far. All the lives that were sacrificed in the name of a greater good. Fighting against Grimm was one thing; they're just soulless monsters. But fighting our fellow men and women, human and Faunus alike...I could never bring myself to do that. Not even against people like the Black Paw. They have families to look after as well. If I were to kill someone, I'd be taking away someone's child, parent, brother, sister..."

In the middle of listing family members, the rose was now plucked of all its petals, leaving nothing but the stigma left. Summer tossed the wilted flower aside as a breeze came by and drifted the petals away.

"Even if everything Ozpin said was true, and even if this is all for the noblest of intentions...I can't do it."

Realizing just how much this bothered Summer, Cinder decided to lay down opposite of Summer so that only their heads were next to each other.

"I'm sorry for lashing out at you before," said Summer.

"It's okay," said Cinder. "If I knew this was how you really felt, I wouldn't have taken that mission."

"If you want to accept Schnee's offer, go ahead. I won't hold anything against you."

"So you're not going to do it then?"

"I still don't know. Maybe I'm just too cowardly to do what needs to be done."

Cinder slightly got up and positioned herself over Summer's face. "Summer Rose, you are a lot of things, but a coward is not one of them. You have to do what you think is best for yourself, and whatever you decide, I'll be right there with you. If you think this mission isn't worth it, then I won't go either."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you and I are partners, and partners have to look out for each other. That was the first thing we learned at Beacon, remember?"

Summer sat up and turned to face Cinder. "Of course I remember. I even remember our team nickname: Team Inferno. Because we would burn like Summer-"

"And turn you to Cinder!" chimed Cinder, causing both of them to laugh. "You know what else I remember?"

"What?"

Cinder got behind Summer and wrapped her arms around Summer's waist. Cinder closed her eyes and begun to hum a familiar tune to Summer.

"Cinder, what are you-"

"Close your eyes," sang Cinder slowly. "Don't you cry."

"Oh jeez, Cinder!" said Summer, blushing at what Cinder was singing. It was a lullaby that Summer had created long before she had kids; it was a way to cheer herself and others up when they felt down. Summer couldn't believe Cinder still remembered the lyrics.

"Don't you worry about the dark, I will light up the night with the love in my heart-"

"Really Cinder, you don't need to do this. Seriously-"

"Like the smell of a ROSE on a SUMMER'S day," she sang, putting that extra emphasis on the lyrics containing her partner's name. Realizing Cinder wasn't going to stop, Summer started to grab as much snow as she could and formed it into a ball.

"With a touch of my hand, I will turn your life to-"

Before Cinder can finish, she was suddenly struck in the face by a snowball, causing Cinder to let go and wipe the snow off her face.

"Hey!"

"I told you to stop!"

"So that's what I get for trying to cheer you up huh?"

Cinder suddenly tackled Summer to the ground and tried to bury her face in the snow. Summer fought back as the two rolled around in the snow trying to assert their dominance. After tussling for about a minute, they both called a truce and laughed about their impromptu sparring.

"Look at us," said Summer. "Here we are lying around in the snow like teenagers and my family is probably worried sick about me right now. I should get going."

Summer got up and brushed the snow off herself. Cinder got up to do the same.

"So long Summer," said Cinder. "Let me know what you decide, okay?"

"Of course," said Summer. Summer was about to run off when she stopped and turned back to Cinder.

"Oh, and Cinder?"

"What?"

Summer walked up to Cinder and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you."

"Any time, partner."

Summer then started sprinting as fast as she could before it got too late.

#

It was nearly ten at night by the time Summer finally came home. She was hoping her family hadn't stayed up waiting for her to come home. Even though they knew of Summer's favorite thinking spot, she never stayed out this late before.

She walked in through the front door where her husband was watching the news, and just like this morning, it was constantly talking about the bombing and what needed to be done against the Black Paw. As soon as she came in her husband shut off the TV.

"Oh thank God," said her husband. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Summer. "I'm sorry for being out so long. Where are the kids?"

"Sound asleep," he said. Summer went upstairs and into her children's bedroom. Yang was sprawled out on her bed like she usually was, while Ruby snuggled tightly under her covers, holding on to her red hood like a security blanket. The sight of seeing them like that always brought a smile to her face.

"They must have been worried sick about me," said Summer.

"That's all they asked me all day," he said. "They were also asking about the restaurant incident."

"So they found out huh?"

"Yang found out you unplugged the TV. The news wouldn't stop talking about it. Don't worry, they aren't going to turn into little Schnees over the Faunus."

"That's a relief, I guess."

Summer quietly went into their bedroom and kissed each of her daughters on the forehead while they slept, then went to her bedroom so she can get some sleep. Now that they were away from the kids, Summer's husband can ask the big question.

"Qrow told me about Schnee's offer," he said. "So...are you going?"

Summer grabbed her husband's hands, took a deep breath, and looked him straight into his eyes.

"I'm going," said Summer.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?"

"I've been thinking about it all day. As much as I hate what I would have to do, if the Black Paw aren't stopped, more innocent people are going to get hurt, and God forbid one day it turns out to be me, you, or the children."

Summer's husband embraced her in his arms and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Just promise me you'll do everything it takes to make it back alive," he said.

"I promise."

#

Summer spent the next couple of days spending as much time with her kids as possible in an attempt to distract herself from the mission that was she going to embark on. Despite making her decision, everyone she told would always reply if she really wanted to go. What they didn't seem to realize is that Summer didn't make her decision based on what she wanted to do; it was because of what she needed to do.

That morning on the day of the mission, Qrow arrived to pick Summer up and head to the Schnee manor where everything they would need to do would be explained. Qrow was talking to the family in the living room as Summer packed up her things in her room. She grabbed the cross around her collar and said a silent prayer, then headed downstairs to say her goodbyes.

Before she can say anything, Ruby ran up to Summer and clung onto Summer's leg.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" asked Summer.

"I don't want you to go mommy!" said Ruby.

"Ruby, mommy has to do this or else a lot of people are going to get hurt."

"But what if you get hurt? Let someone else do it!"

"Ruby, please let go."

"No!"

"Ruby, let go of your mother," said her father, but Ruby wouldn't budge. She'd be damned if she was going to ever let Summer out of her grip. Summer sighed and kneeled down to Ruby, placing her hands around her head.

"Look at me Ruby." Ruby opened up her eyes, already starting to fill up with water. "Mommy is going to be just fine. I've got uncle Qrow and all my friends to help me. Together we're going to complete this mission and come home. I promise."

Ruby slowly let go of her grip around Summer. Summer lifted Ruby up and gave her a hug, then put her back down and hugged Yang the same way.

"Ruby, Yang, I want you both to be really good girls while I'm gone. Listen to everything your father says."

She then went over and gave her husband one last embrace.

"I love you Summer," he said. "Come home as soon as you can."

"I will," she said.

She waved goodbye to her family as her and Qrow headed out the door and into the cab that would take them to the Schnee manor. After about a minute in the cab, Summer spoke to Qrow.

"Qrow, I need you to do me a favor."

"What is it?"

"Should anything happen to me on this mission-"

"Stop right there. You're going to complete this mission-"

"Qrow, please!" Summer sounded like was already upset. "Should anything happen to me, you have to promise to make sure Ruby and Yang..."

Summer gripped her fist and choked back some tears to stop herself from crying.

"Please make sure...they don't grow up to be huntresses."

Qrow was surprised. He had expected her to say to simply make sure they're taken care of, but not to become a huntress like her?

This mission hadn't officially begun, but Qrow could tell it had already changed her sister for the worse.


	4. Chapter 3

Barbary was in the war tent of the Black Paw's base going over his latest plan, when a hyena Faunus came in to deliver news.

"Sir, we caught a human sneaking outside of our base."

"Bring them to me," replied Barbary.

Him and the other two hyenas dragged in a young woman with her hands bound behind her back and her mouth gagged with a cloth tied around her head. They slammed her down on the table and held her down as they removed the gag. One of the hyenas handed Barbary a sword that the woman was carrying. Barbary tossed it aside and took out his machete, pointing it towards the woman.

"Start talking," said Barbary. "Who sent you out here?"

"I swear I'm only here to fight Grimm!" pleaded the huntress. "Please let me go!"

"If you're out here to fight Grimm, then why were you trespassing on our base?"

"I wasn't trespassing! I was trying to find the Grimm when I suddenly got ambushed by your-"

Before she can finish, Barbary slammed his blade on the table, causing the blade to make a deep mark. The huntress suddenly went quiet, scared out of her mind of what Barbary was possibly going to do to her.

"Who are you working for?" growled Barbary.

"I keep telling you, I'm just here to control the growing numbers of Grimm!"

Barbary signaled his men to lift her up. The hyenas stood her up straight as Barbary placed the tip of his machete near the huntress' throat. The huntress stopped breathing, scared that making even the slightest movement was going to cause her to get slit.

"Like I would ever believe the words of a filthy human?" said Barbary.

"What are you waiting for boss? Cut her already!"

"Not yet. As much as I'd love to slice her into pieces, she can be useful in other ways."

"Oh ho ho! I know what you're thinking!" The hyena pulled the huntress' head back and began to lick the side of her neck, causing the huntress to let out a slight whimper. "It HAS been a long time since any of us got to mate."

Barbary slammed his machete against the table, causing both the huntress and the hyena to flinch.

"Mating with a dirty human?" said Barbary. "Have you no integrity?"

"So what did you have in mind?"

"She's going to be our hostage. No doubt we can get quite a ransom for a huntress. Worst case scenario, we can just kill her and feed her body to the Grimm. Take her to my chambers."

Two of the hyenas placed a black hood over the huntress' head and dragged her away. The other stayed in the tent with Barbary.

"Sir, on the off chance that she's right about the Grimm?"

"Like a few Grimm are any threat to the Black Paw," said Barbary. "Besides, we have more important matters to deal with."

Barbary grabbed a megaphone and headed outside. As he walked around the camp, any soldier near his presence dropped what they were doing and saluted their leader. Barbary went to the center of the camp and stood on a crate.

"Brothers of the Black Paw, may I have your attention?" he shouted into his megaphone. Immediately all of the soldiers in the camp gathered around the center to listen to Barbary.

"Tomorrow is the day I embark on our mission to bring down the Schnee Dust Company. I will be leaving this camp in your hands. If you see any human or human sympathizer in the area, you are to kill them on sight, understood?"

Everyone raised their fist in the air and shouted in unison.

"Furthermore, we have acquired a human hostage. This hostage is to be kept alive in order to bargain with the humans. You are to make sure she does not leave the camp under any circumstances. You may do what you want with her as long as she remains alive, and please, no mating; the last thing I would want is for us to be infected with whatever diseases this filthy human is no doubt carrying."

The last line got some laughs amongst the crowd.

"Our time is soon my Faunus brothers! The Black Paw will take back what rightfully belongs to the Faunus! We shall reclaim our destiny! WE SHALL RISE!"

Everyone in the camp raised their fists and cheered for their leader, starting a boisterous "we shall rise" chant across the camp.

#

Summer and Qrow arrived at the Schnee manor and were guided to the dining room where their meeting would take place. Waiting for them in the dining room were Cinder, Peter Port, and Goodwitch. Summer was surprised to see Port and Goodwitch, two fellow alumni whom she hadn't seen in years.

"Summer Rose!" said Port, standing up to greet Summer. "It's been ages since I've last seen you! And yet you still look as young and dashing as the day we met!"

"Still a charmer as always Port," replied Summer. "How have you been?"

"Couldn't be better. How about you? I heard you have children now."

"Two girls, ages nine and seven."

"Splendid! Think they'll grow up to be excellent huntresses such as yourself?"

"Who knows?" said Summer nonchalantly. If she had been asked that question any other day, she would be proud to think of her girls growing up to be huntresses, but ever since accepting this mission, she would feel anything but proud.

"Long time no see Summer," greeted Goodwitch. "I'm surprised to see you take part in this mission. I was assuming you would back down considering the stakes."

"I've had a change of heart, and believe me, it wasn't easy."

"I'm truly glad you're here. You're one of the few I trust to make sure everything goes right."

"Come now!" replied Port. "As talented as Miss Rose is, you say that as if we would be doomed without her."

"Then again, look who's leading us," said Qrow, referring to Ozpin.

"Are you saying you would do a better job than Ozpin?"

"I'm saying I trust his judgment about as much as Schnee trusts a Faunus."

As if on cue, Schnee and Ozpin soon entered the room. Everyone took their seat as Schnee laid out the maps and documents on the table, while Ozpin was setting up his chessboard. He always liked to use his chess set to explain his tactics; Qrow believed it was childish. Schnee began to explain their plan.

"According to my sources, the Black Paw will be attempting to attack one of my delivery trains at Forever Fall at the brink of dawn. I have no doubt Barbary will be the one leading the attack. Usually these trains would be carrying our latest supply of dust, but not this time."

"I assume that's where we come in?" asked Qrow.

"Precisely. I'm going to have one of my trains completely empty save for you. The train approximately takes one hour to get through the entire forest, and another half hour afterwards before reaching its destination. That should allow you ample time."

Ozpin grabbed three white pawns and a black king and placed them on his board. "Qrow, Cinder, Summer, I'm assigning you three to the train. Taking out Barbary is our top priority. When he falls, the rest of Black Paw will quickly come down."

"Sounds easy enough," replied Qrow. "Just wait on the train and ambush the man."

"Not exactly," said Ozpin, grabbing more black pieces and placing them on the table. "Barbary is sure to bring backup, so you'll have to deal with them as well. Not to mention that Barbary is willing to do anything it takes to take down his opposition. The man will kill himself and his men if that's what it will take to win."

"He's a mentally unstable beast," added Schnee. "Do not hesitate to kill him."

"Now suppose Barbary isn't the one leading the attack," said Qrow. "What would we do then?"

"While you three will be on the train, the rest of us will be attacking their camp."

Schnee brought the map of Forever Fall to the center and pointed to the area he believed the Black Paw camp was located.

"Our second part of the mission is to attack their Forever Falls base," explained Schnee. "The camp appears to hold approximately forty members of the Black Paw. If Barbary isn't on that train, then he's sure to be hiding in this base."

"Goodwitch, Port, and I along with some of Schnee's men will be flushing out their base. Their weapons are relatively primitive, so it shouldn't be much of a problem even if Barbary is with them."

"Excuse me Ozpin," said Summer, "but I'd like to ask for a change of plan."

Ozpin was surprised to hear Summer object to Ozpin's plan. She had never questioned anything given to her before.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ozpin.

"I want to be part of the base operation instead."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't feel confident about going on the train."

"I have to say I agree with Miss Rose," said Schnee. "Knowing her she'll probably let Barbary go and mess everything up!"

"Excuse me," said Port, "but Miss Rose would not screw up a mission! If she does not feel up to the operation, I will gladly take her place!"

"Summer, may we step aside for a moment?" asked Ozpin.

Summer and Ozpin stood up and headed to another room to discuss Summer's objection privately.

"Why are you so insistent on changing the plan?"

"Because Schnee is right. I'm not going to kill Barbary. At least when we attack the base we don't have to kill the Faunus, just drive them out of the forest."

"Nobody ever said you have to kill Barbary. Taking him alive can be just as effective."

"Like that's going to last long once we bring him back here."

Summer folded her hands and held them up to her chest to show how much she was wanting Ozpin to change her mind.

"Please Ozpin, let me do the other operation."

Ozpin sighed and grabbed Summer's hands. "Listen to me Summer; you're the best huntress I've got. That's why I need you on the train to make sure this mission is a success. I know you'll be able to handle it."

Summer took a deep breath and took a minute to think about what to do.

"If that's really what you think is best, than okay. I trust you Ozpin; don't make me regret it."

"You won't."

Ozpin and Summer went back into the meeting, where everyone was quiet to see what Summer and Ozpin agreed upon.

"Well Miss Rose?" asked Schnee.

"I'll be going on the train," replied Summer, "and I assure you I will not let Barbary get away."

"Moving on," said Ozpin, "the forest is sure to have Grimm roaming around, so we'll need to prepare for any surprise attack."

Everyone was listening except for Cinder. Cinder had ignored what was spoken in the rest of the meeting and focused her attention on Summer. Cinder was ready to stand up and defend Summer's request, and it bothered her that Summer had suddenly changed her mind and decided to stick with Ozpin's plan. Cinder wished she knew what Summer was thinking.

#

The huntsmen and huntresses left the Schnee manor that evening and were being flown to Forever Fall. With not a lot of time to get sleep, nearly everyone on board had decided to get as much rest as they needed now. The only person aside from the pilots that was awake was Summer. Summer was reading on various articles about the Black Paw and Jamar Barbary on her scroll.

Sitting next to her was Cinder, who started to wake up from the beeps being made by Summer's scroll.

"Still awake partner?" asked Cinder.

"Can't really sleep tonight," said Summer. "Might as well kill time until we get there."

Cinder looked over to see the articles Summer was reading. With everyone else asleep, now was the perfect time for Cinder to start questioning Summer.

"Summer, why did you suddenly change your mind?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't want to fight Barbary, but now you do. What did Ozpin say to change your mind?"

"Simply that I'm the best one here to handle him, and if that what he believes, then so be it."

"But is that what you believe?"

"It doesn't matter what I believe. I believe the best thing to do is to convince Black Paw and Schnee to end their tirades that's causing the Faunus and humans to hate each other and have everyone act peaceful forever. But that's not going to happen."

Cinder suddenly got up, grabbed Summer's scroll and yanked it out of her hands. Cinder grabbed Summer's shoulders and pushed them against the chair she was sitting in.

"Tell me the truth Summer," said Cinder, sounding infuriated. "Why are you really doing this? Why did you accept coming here?"

"Because I need to be here. I need to-"

"Who cares about what you NEED to do? What about what you WANT to do? Do you really want to go through all this, or are you just reluctantly following along because you think you'll let down all of us?"

Summer could feel Cinder's arms shaking her shoulders. Summer grabbed Cinder's arms to get her to stop shaking.

"You're right," said Summer. "I don't want to be here. I don't want to fight against other people. I want to tell Schnee off, go back home and spend all day playing with my children and loving my husband. But at the same time, I don't want a war between Faunus and humans. I don't want my girls growing up and witnessing the things I've witnessed. If I decided to back down and the mission turned out to be a failure, I'm always going to wonder what could have been if I stepped up and joined. I can never forgive myself if something were to happen because I was too selfish to put others ahead of myself."

"Then be selfish damn it!" said Cinder, nearly speaking loud enough to wake everyone on the plane. Realizing what she almost did, Cinder sat back in her seat and spoke in a softer voice. "Don't feel like you have to do this or else the world will end. Go home, go back to your family; we can handle this."

"Sorry Cinder, but I've made up my mind. I need to be here."

"So be it." Cinder handed Summer her scroll back and pulled back the chair to go back to sleep. "Just know I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you get home safely by any means necessary."

"Thanks, partner."

Summer put away her scroll and pulled back her chair as well to try and some get some sleep while she still can.

"Cinder?"

"Yeah Summer?"

"Are you scared?"

"Completely. I wish I could be calm like you."

"Want to know a secret?" Summer reached over and grabbed Cinder's hand, gripping it tightly. "I'm scared beyond belief. I just know how to hide it well."

"We better find a way to be un-scared before this flight is over."

"I have an idea."

Summer cleared her throat and tested her voice before she began to sing.

"Close your eyes; don't you cry."

Cinder smiled and started to sing along.

"Love's around you; in time, you'll fly."

The two of them kept singing softly until they fell asleep, still holding hands for the rest of the flight.

#

At the crack of dawn, Barbary and his three hyena henchmen were waiting on top of a cliff, looking out for the train that would be arriving shortly.

"The train will be here any minute," said Barbary. "Cackle and Guffaw, once we get inside, make the preparations to transfer the cargo. Snigger, head to the front and set the charges. I'll be checking all the carts and wiping out anyone on board. We need to get on, snag the goods, and be out in less than thirty minutes."

"Then when that train makes its final stop, KABOOM!" shouted Cackle. "I wish I'd be able to see the panic that ensues!"

"You'll get plenty of that when this makes the news. Remember, if any of you don't get this done right, you're not coming back alive."

"Yes sir!"

The sound of the train whistle echoed throughout the forest as the train was about to be under the cliff they were standing on.

"Black Paw, move out!"

Barbary and his men ran down the cliff and jumped off on to the train, landing in the middle of the carts. Barbary took out his machete and cut open the roof of the cart. They got inside the cart and drew out their knives to attack anybody that might be in there, but to their surprise, the cart was completely empty.

"Um, sir? Isn't this where the cargo should be?"

"Something's not right about this. Move up to the next cart!"

The Black Paw moved onto the next cart, which was also completely empty.

"This one's empty too sir!"

"Why would they have a train completely empty, sir?"

"Wait!" said Barbary, sniffing the air. "Do you smell that?"

His men smelled the air as well. They picked up the scent of a human presently in the area, even though they couldn't see him in the room even with their natural night vision. That's when they realized where the human would be. The moment they looked up, they noticed a man in a black hood hiding in the ceiling, jumping off and about to strike.

The four of them quickly jumped out of the way as Qrow landed between them and swung his Grimm Ripper in a 360 degree motion, just whiffing past the four of them. Qrow focused on Barbary and swung for his head. Barbary blocked the swing by holding his machete against his arm and blocking the scythe. The other Faunus tried to sneak attack Qrow from behind; Qrow quickly turned around and switched his weapon into gun mode and fired at the hyenas, causing them to back off. While Qrow was distracted, Barbary pulled out a flash grenade from his belt and hurled it towards Qrow. The grenade went off and blinded Qrow momentarily.

"Everyone to the front of the train!" shouted Barbary. They ran out the other side and jumped to an empty platform. They were about to run to the next platform when they saw two huntresses standing at the other end. They looked back and saw Qrow standing behind them. The Black Paw were trapped.

"Looks like Schnee has hired some lapdogs to do his bidding!" said Barbary.

"I'm going to cut to the chase," said Qrow, holding his scythe up towards Barbary. "Barbary, you're either coming with us in handcuffs or as a corpse; or if you can't decide, both."

"I'd rather die before being captured by the likes of you filthy humans!"

"Corpse it is then," remarked Qrow.

"Wait!" said Summer. Summer withdrew her weapon and took a few steps towards Barbary. "Barbary, we don't need to fight each other. I ask that you come with us and end this peacefully."

Upon hearing Summer's request, the hyenas began laughing loudly. Barbary didn't find the request funny, and looked indignant at what Summer was asking for.

"You hear that boss? She thinks we're going to just give up!"

"You really thought you can trick me into accepting some kind of truce?" said Barbary. "The last time the Faunus ever accepted a truce, the first thing you humans did was backstab us!"

"I'm not here to backstab you Barbary," said Summer. "I'm-"

"Shut up! You will not trick me with your words, harlot!"

"Now he's definitely coming back as a corpse," said Cinder, forming a fireball with her hands.

"I guess I don't have a choice," said Summer, pulling out her axe and getting into a fighting stance.

Before any of them could make the first strike, Barbary quickly pulled out another flash grenade and threw it to the ground, blinding Cinder and Summer. Seeing it coming, Qrow covered his eyes before it went off. Barbary used the flash grenade's distraction to run past Cinder and Summer and jump to the next cart, while each of the hyenas ran after a different human.

Cackle went after Qrow, who started swinging his scythe wildly to keep Cackle from a distance. Summer and Cinder regained their sight long enough to see Guffaw and Snigger come after them. Guffaw took a swing at Summer's throat; Summer blocked his arm with the front of her axe. Cinder use the protective glyph around her to block Snigger's swing, then fired a ball of fire at him, which he quickly jumped out of the way of. The huntsman and huntresses went on the offensive as the hyenas continued to just jump around and avoid their attacks. While they were fighting Barbary's men, Barbary was attaching a small amount of C4 to the connectors between the two carts. Once the C4 was attached, Barbary backed away as far as he could to avoid the explosion.

While fending off Guffaw, Summer turned back and noticed what Barbary was up to. Realizing they were going to lose Barbary, Summer quickly ran to jump on the other cart before they would be disconnected. Summer jumped less than a second before Barbary set off the explosion, causing Summer to be pushed forward and land on the other cart. The explosion shook the carts, causing everyone but Barbary to fall down. Barbary turned and headed to the front of the train. Qrow and Cinder turned and saw the carts disconnect from each other as they were starting to slow down and Summer collapsed on the other cart.

"Summer! Are you okay?" shouted Cinder.

"I'm fine!" said Summer, getting back to her feet and running. "I'm going after Barbary!"

"Be careful!" shouted Cinder before Summer was out of her sights.

Summer jumped from cart to cart until she finally reached the front cart. There she saw Barbary attach the rest of his C4 all around the cart. Hearing Summer come in, Barbary turned to face Summer, machete in hand and ready to fight.

"I'm pretty mad we couldn't snatch any dust," said Barbary. "But at least I can still unleash carnage by the time this train reaches its destination."

"Do you really believe causing more acts of violence is going to bring Faunus equality?" asked Summer.

"And I suppose you think we should stick to the protests and the strikes like those worthless peacemakers in the White Fang! The White Fang have gotten Faunus nowhere since the day of their inception! We of the Black Paw on the other hand are making a difference, and we will not be stopped by the likes of vile human scum!"

Barbary charged at Summer and swung down with his machete. Summer block the knife with the top of her axe and kicked Barbary back. Summer began swinging her axe continuously; Barbary held his machete against his arm and used it to block Summer's swings while being pushed back. Barbary soon realized he was about to be cornered against the engine of the train as the engine room was too small to be fighting it out. Barbary looked up and saw the lever for the emergency break. As Summer was about to swing again, Barbary grabbed the brake and pulled down, causing the train to suddenly slow down and Summer to stumble and collapse. Barbary let go of the brake and jumped over Summer, heading to the empty platform behind the engine cart. Summer got up and chased after Barbary.

Summer got on the empty platform where Barbary was waiting. The two of them held out their weapons and slowly circled each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Knowing she couldn't waste any time, Summer knew she would have to make the first strike. She quickly created a rose with her arm and tossed it at Barbary while running towards him. Barbary knocked the rose away with his bare hand and blocked Summer's swing. With more room to maneuver, Barbary was able to quickly dodge all of Summer's swings.

Barbary distanced himself from Summer, then yanked an explosive grenade off his shoulder and tossed to Summer's feet. Summer quickly kicked the grenade off the train into the Forest below, exploding safely away from the tracks. The distraction was enough for Barbary to charge in and tackle Summer to the ground, causing her to lose her axe. Mounting on top of Summer, Barbary raised his machete and thrust to Summer's throat; Summer held out her arms to stop Barbary. Barbary's strength was too much for Summer to overpower as the tip of his machete was nearing her throat. Just when Barbary was about to slit Summer, Summer held one arm near Barbary's right eye and sprayed pollen from her sleeve, causing Barbary to go blind. The pollen made Barbary feel as if his face was on fire. Barbary dropped his weapon and tried to wipe the pollen off his face. Summer grabbed Barbary by his uniform and tossed him aside. Summer got up and ran to her axe while Barbary was trying to find his machete while still blind. Barbary found his machete, stood up, and began swinging wildly while still blinded, not realizing he was about to walk off the platform until he suddenly felt the edge of the platform, causing him to back away.

By the time he finally regained his sight, Summer grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, then pushed him to the ground. Summer held down Barbary as she pulled out handcuffs and tied them to Barbary's wrists.

"It's over Barbary," said Summer. "Make it easy for yourself and come with me quietly."

Summer expected Barbary to start fighting back, but instead Barbary snickered.

"I guess I have no choice," said Barbary. "You win human."

Summer was surprised to hear Barbary cooperating. She was somewhat suspicious as to why he was suddenly giving up, but relieved that the mission appeared to be over. Summer stood up and brought Barbary back to his feet.

"I will admit you fight pretty good for a human. But you still have one fatal flaw."

"What's that?"

"You can't see in the dark."

"What are you-"

Suddenly the entire area went pitch dark as the train was going through a tunnel in the mountain. Now with the vision advantage, Barbary head butt Summer in the face, knocking Summer off her feet. Summer got up and pulled out her axe, even though she wouldn't be able to see where Barbary would be attacking from. A few seconds later, the train was out of the tunnel, bringing light back to the field. Barbary was suddenly gone. Summer looked around to see where he went, and saw that he was on top of the cart behind the platform, free from his handcuffs and holding the detonator to the C4.

"Farewell human!" said Barbary, jumping off the train and hitting the detonator. Summer quickly jumped off the platform just as the engine cart exploded and violently shook the train, causing it to derail and crash into the forest below. Summer created vines from her sleeves and used them to grab onto a tree and land safely on the ground. With Barbary running away into the forest, Summer took out her scroll and contacted her team to let her know what happened.

#

While Summer went after Barbary, Qrow and Cinder were fighting his henchmen. While Qrow and Cinder were stronger, the laughing Faunus were faster when it came to going on the defensive, causing the battle to become a stalemate. Qrow was starting to lose his patience from wasting too much time fighting off Barbary's men.

"Come on!" yelled Qrow. "Stop running around and fight like a real man!"

"What's wrong dusty old man? Having a hard time keeping up?"

The Faunus laughed at Qrow, causing Qrow to go after the one taunting him and not pay attention to the other two. Qrow was so focused on trying to hit the one Faunus that one of them snuck up from his side and slashed him in the shoulder with his combat knife, throwing Qrow off. This caused all three to charge in and swing at Qrow, who could barely defend himself. Cinder sent fireballs at the hyenas to get them off Qrow, but the damage was already done as Qrow's aura was now low. The next set of swings from their weapons would be fatal.

"Stay back Qrow," said Cinder. "I'll handle them by myself!"

"Yeah dusty old man! Better run away before you break a hip!"

As the hyenas were laughing at Qrow, their taunt gave Qrow an idea. He turned around and ran into the empty storage cart.

"HA! The old man thinks he can actually run away from us?"

"Cackle, Guffaw, you go after the old man. I'll deal with the fire breathing vixen!"

Cackle and Guffaw went into the cart Qrow ran into. The inside of the cart was pure dark, making the Faunus believe they had the advantage over Qrow, who stood on the other end of the cart smirking to himself.

"What's so funny old man?"

"I just thought of a funny joke," said Qrow. Suddenly, the sounds of crows started to echo loudly in the cart. The Faunus looked around to see where the sound was coming from.

"You know what they call a group of crows?"

Ignoring the crows, Cackle and Guffaw charged at Qrow. Instead of using his Grimm Ripper to defend himself, Qrow simply held up his cloak. Just when the Faunus reached him, he disappeared into a pile of black feathers.

"What the...?"

"Where are you going?" asked Qrow, suddenly showing up behind them. "I'm over here."

Cackle and Guffaw charged at Qrow again, only for him to disappear into black feathers once again.

"For a species that can see in the dark, you're not very good in looking for me."

"Show yourself old man!" yelled Cackle.

"I'm right here," said Qrow, appearing beside Cackle. Cackle swung and tried to slash Qrow, only to hit a group of feathers instead.

The hyenas stood back to back and looked around the cart trying to find Qrow. The two could barely hear themselves think as the caws of the crows continued to get louder, driving the two of them insane.

"Behind you!" said Qrow behind Cackle. Cackle immediately turned around and thrust his knife, forgetting that Guffaw was right behind him. Guffaw turned around only to find himself stabbed in the chest by his own partner. Cackle freaked out, realizing he just made a big mistake. While Cackle was freaking out, Qrow appeared behind him and pointed his gun at point blank range.

"They're called a murder," said Qrow, pulling the trigger and blasting both of them out of the cart. Once they were out of the cart, Qrow reached for his scroll and turned off the crow noise.

He stepped outside the cart to see the two unconscious Faunus along with their friend, whose uniform was nearly burned off his body. His face also had several bruises and cuts.

"What happened here?" asked Qrow.

"He shouldn't have called me a vixen," commented Cinder. Before Qrow could respond, the both of them received a call from Summer. "Everything all right partner?"

"Barbary derailed the train and escaped into the forest," said Summer. "I'm going after him."

"We'll be there as soon as we can," said Cinder. Just then, the three of them suddenly received a message from Goodwitch. They opened up the message and didn't like what they read.

"Oh no," remarked Qrow.

#

Ozpin, Goodwitch, Port, and a few of Schnee's personnel had traveled on foot in search of the Faunus base. The personnel kept looking around in case the Black Paw suddenly ambushed them. As they were getting closer to the base, they heard a rustling noise nearby.

They slowly approached the noise and saw an Ursa, looking over what appeared to be a body.

"Is someone in trouble?" asked Port.

"We'll handle it," said one of the personnel. The personnel fired a few shots at the Ursa, causing it to run away. They quickly went to the body and found out the body was already dead. The person was wearing camouflage and had horns sticking out of his head.

"It appears we've got a dead Faunus over here," said one of the soldiers. They flipped the body and saw two gashing wounds in the man's chest and stomach. The front of his uniform was completely stained in his blood.

"What could have caused this?" asked one of the soldiers.

"I've seen wounds like these before," said Port. "These are the marks of a King Taijitu."

"So he got attacked by a Grimm. Poor bastard."

"On the bright side, that means we can't be too far from the base."

The group continued their walk until they were near the field where the camp would be. The soldiers signaled for the others to stay hidden as they would go out and scout the area before taking action. They stepped out of the bushes with their weapons drawn out, only to see that they wouldn't be needing them.

"Is the coast clear?" asked Ozpin.

"Clear? More like annihilated."

Everyone stepped out to see that the base that was supposed to be the home of the Black Paw was demolished. The walls surrounding the base were torn down and broken apart, and a majority of the tents were ripped to shreds. The corpses of dead soldiers were laid out all over the place. The group was shocked to see that their job appeared to have already been done. They entered the base and searched through the wreckage to figure out what had happened.

"Did Schnee send another group without us knowing?" asked Ozpin.

"No. We're the only ones that were sent to flush the base out."

"Some of these soldiers have the same wounds as the man from earlier," said Port. "I have no doubt they were ambushed by the Grimm."

"You're telling me some Grimm caused all this?"

"If there are really King Taijitu lurking around this forest," said Port, "a few is all that would be needed to decimate a small army."

"Everyone quiet!" said Goodwitch. "I hear something!"

Everyone stood still and remained quiet. They heard what sounded like muffled screaming coming from one of the bigger tents still remaining. They went inside the tent and found a woman tied up in the corner, crying and screaming for help. Goodwitch immediately ran over and undid her bounds. As soon as the gag came off, she started to hyperventilate.

"Calm down!" said Goodwitch. "We're here to help you!"

"Oh thank God! Oh thank God!" said the huntress between breaths.

They picked up the huntress and took her to a medical tent, trying to calm her down and check if she had any wounds.

"Who are you?" asked Goodwitch.

"I-I-I'm a huntress. They...they took me hostage. I-I've been tortured...for the p-past two days."

"Do you know what happened here?"

"I-I told them! I told them there was a...a growing number of Grimm but they thought I was some spy and they kidnapped me and they-"

"When did the Grimm come through here?"

"I think an hour, two hours ago? I've been out here so long I've lost track of time and I thought I was going to die and-"

"It's okay. We'll get you out of here."

One of the soldiers contacted Schnee to let him know what happened. Goodwitch sent a message to the others about an alarming number of Grimm lurking in Forever Fall. As they were helping the huntress, they began to hear a large slithering noise outside.

"It must be the Grimm again," said Ozpin. They ran outside and sure enough, they found themselves surrounded by two pairs of King Taijitu along with several smaller Taijitu.

"The three of you take the huntress and run! We'll fight them off!"

The personnel took the huntress and made a break for it, while Ozpin's team prepared themselves to fight the Grimm.


	5. Chapter 4

Qrow and Cinder dashed through the forest as fast they could, hoping to find Summer right away. It was bad enough she was fighting Barbary alone, but after receiving the message that there was a greater amount of Grimm lurking in the forest than usual, Summer was going to find herself between a rock and a hard place if they didn't act fast.

Cinder was constantly looking at her scroll to keep check on Summer's aura. So far she was still in the green, indicating she was still safe for now.

"How is she doing?" asked Qrow.

"She's okay," replied Cinder.

"I'm thinking we should split up," said Qrow. "We'll each take a different direction and contact each other once we find Summer."

"Good idea," said Cinder.

Cinder and Qrow split up into different directions. Qrow was on his own for about a minute when he suddenly came across a small pack of Ursas, who started to go after Qrow. Qrow stopped and quickly took out his Grimm Ripper to dispose of the Grimm in his way.

"Not today monsters, I've got somewhere to be." He quickly killed two of the Ursas and focused on the other two remaining, when suddenly another pack came out of the woods. Deciding not to wait until more showed up, Qrow decided to turn around and start running in the other direction, only to find more Ursas suddenly appearing. Qrow sighed and reloaded his weapon.

"Summer, please hold on."

#

Summer walked slowly through the forest with axe in hand, looking around carefully for anything to jump out and attack her. She didn't know if Barbary had decided to escape or was simply hiding, waiting for his chance to ambush her. She considered herself lucky they were in the forest this time, where she can use her semblance to her full potential.

Summer heard leaves rustling near her. She immediately turned around and held her axe up thinking something was there; she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was just a light gust blowing through the area. She placed a hand on her chest and felt her heart beating rapidly.

"Calm down Summer," she thought to herself. "The last thing you need to do is get paranoid."

Summer kept walking when she heard more rustling beside her. Summer thought it was just the wind again, when she suddenly heard a loud screech. Summer turned to see a Boarbatusk suddenly jump from the bushes and charge at Summer. Summer rolled out of the way as the Boarbatusk rammed itself into a tree. Summer placed one hand on the ground, getting ready for the creature to turn around and attack again. The boar turned to Summer and began to paw on the ground, indicating it was about to charge. The boar charged full speed ahead just as Summer hoped. Using her semblance, she summoned a wooden stake to pop out of the ground and impale the Grimm through its underside, killing it instantly.

"This forest is getting too dangerous," thought Summer. "I better find some kind of open field to avoid another ambush."

Summer found the tallest tree she could find and climbed to the very top to get a better look of the forest. She saw a wide open field about half a mile from where she was. She climbed down the tree and immediately started running.

As she was running, she heard something jump out and start chasing her. She turned around to see more Boarbatusks running after her. One of them suddenly shaped it's body into a circle and rolled at high speed. Summer jumped out of the way and continued running, not wanting to pause and fight them while still inside the forest.

By the time she made it out to the field, she turned around and saw three Boarbatusks behind her. Two of them ran to opposite sides and began to circle around Summer.

"All right, it's just a few Boarbatusks," thought Summer. "Nothing I can't handle."

Before the Grimm can strike, something came flying in and dropped near Summer's feet. Summer looked down to see what dropped, and realized too late it was a flash grenade. The grenade went off and blinded Summer. As Summer was blinded, she suddenly heard the dying screams of the Boarbatusks around her. Once she regained her vision, she saw Barbary holding up one of the boars by its tusk, his machete driven deep into its stomach.

"Nothing is going to take the satisfaction of killing a human from me," said Barbary, throwing the Grimm aside as it turned into smoke and faded from the field.

"I'm surprised you would rather stay and fight than run away," said Summer. "I should warn you, out here in the field, my semblance gives me a huge advantage."

"Hmph. Your semblance pales in comparison to what I'm capable of, human. Observe."

Barbary sheathed his machete, got on all fours and growled. His arms was suddenly growing muscles, with veins nearly popping out of his arms; his hands suddenly sprouted claws out of his fingers; his chest had expanded in size and his height grew several inches, causing the top of his uniform to rip apart. Barbary stood up and let out a deafening roar. His hulking chest was full of scars from his years of fighting.

"Behold my primal semblance!" growled Barbary. Despite Barbary's metamorphosis, Summer wasn't worried.

"So you grew some muscles," said Summer. "I've taken down Grimm bigger than you.

"Famous last words," replied Barbary.

Barbary sprinted at Summer and swung his right arm to slash Summer with his claws. Summer swung her axe and knocked the arm away, then Barbary quickly slashed with his other arm. Summer blocked with her axe just in time as Barbary went for another slash. Summer was surprised that Barbary was not only stronger, but faster as well; with no opening to strike back, all she can do was try to avoid Barbary's claws.

As Barbary went for another slash, Summer rolled out of the way and threw a rose from her sleeve at Barbary. Barbary held up his arm and took the rose into his forearm; the rose barely penetrated through his skin. Barbary plucked the rose out of his arm like it was nothing and charged at Summer. Summer turned and started running, but Barbary was faster and started to catch up. He lunged at Summer to bring her down, but Summer jumped to the side as Barbary fell to the ground. Barbary quickly got up and ran after Summer again. Summer this time stood still and waited for Barbary to get close. Summer held out her arms and sprayed a huge load of pollen at Barbary. This caused Barbary to slow down and start gagging. Barbary stopped and tried to catch his breath while waving his arm around to get rid of the pollen in the air. With Barbary momentarily distracted, Summer held her axe high with both hands and charged at Barbary. She was going to put all her strength into this one attack and hope it would be enough to stop Barbary for good. Barbary looked up and saw Summer coming for her.

Summer swung down her axe with all her might; Barbary simply held up his left hand and caught the blade like it was nothing. Despite the blade cutting into his hand, blood slowly dripping out of his palm, Barbary acted as if it didn't affect him at all. The sight of seeing her axe become useless terrified Summer.

Barbary punched Summer in the stomach; Summer could swear she felt her stomach explode upon contact. Barbary grabbed Summer's axe and tossed it away as Summer could barely move from the sharp pain coursing through her body. Barbary raised his other arm and attempted to slash Summer's face. Summer held her arms up to cover her face as Barbary's claws cut through her forearms, tearing her sleeves to shreds. Summer clenched her teeth hard to bear with the pain. Barbary then grabbed Summer by her hair and lifted her off the ground with just one arm. Summer tried to push his arm off while trying to kick Barbary, but her kicks were as weak as a child's. Barbary grabbed her leg and let go of her hair. Barbary lifted Summer up by her leg, over his shoulder, and slammed her into the ground. Summer could barely protect herself as she landed face down into the ground, the leaves providing little cushion for the hard dirt below. Barbary lifted her up again and this time slammed her on her back; Summer could swear she heard one of her bones snap. Barbary let go of her leg as Summer was sprawled out on the ground, barely having any strength to get up.

"What's wrong human?" mocked Barbary. "I thought you said you took down Grimm bigger than me. Guess you were too ignorant to realize the true strength of a Faunus!"

Barbary stomped his leg on Summer's chest; if her bones weren't broken before, her ribs surely had to be now. The pain was so bad it was hurting Summer just to take any kind of breath.

"I'm not surprised a human would be ignorant about a Faunus. That's all you humans ever were: ignorant, arrogant, and prejudiced!"

Every time Barbary mentioned a trait about the humans, he stomped Summer in the chest. Summer turned her body slightly and started coughing up blood. Every little thing Summer tried to do caused her pain.

Barbary grabbed Summer by the front of her dress and lifted her off the ground.

"What do you have to say now, human?" asked Barbary.

"Barbary...stop," said Summer, her voice sounding hoarse from all the pain she was in. "We don't need to fight like this."

"Begging for mercy now, are we human?" said Barbary, pulling Summer close to himself. "I don't show mercy to the likes of your kind!"

"Just listen to me please! I know how the Faunus have been mistreated in the past, and I know how because of people like Schnee they're still unfairly discriminated."

"And yet you agreed to do his dirty work!"

Barbary pushed her to the ground. Summer used whatever strength she had left to stand up, but didn't have enough to stand straight up.

"What makes you any more innocent than he is?" growled Barbary.

"Because you're not innocent in this either," said Summer. "You've taken the lives of people who had nothing to do with this feud between the Faunus and the humans. I don't want to see anybody from any side continue committing such atrocities."

Summer held out her hand towards Barbary, as if asking him to shake it.

"Barbary, we can work together to bring peace between the humans and the Faunus. Both sides have made horrible mistakes in the past, but we don't need to let that control us today. I beg of you, give up what you're doing and come with us."

Barbary paused for a moment to think about what Summer said; then suddenly burst out manically laughing. Summer was baffled by Barbary's reaction.

"You think I care about peace between humans and Faunus?" said Barbary.

"What?"

"Are you naive, human? There can never be peace between humans and Faunus."

"But isn't that what you're fighting for? For Faunus equality?"

"Faunus equality is just the first step towards our real mission; cleansing this world of humans for good."

"What do you mean cleansing?" Summer was feeling worried by what Barbary was saying.

"You know, ethnic cleansing? The extinction of the human race? There can't be any peace in this world as long as humans are still around. Humans are nothing but hateful, disgusting creatures who need to be eradicated and sent back to the dust from where they came."

Hearing Barbary promote the end of the human race appalled Summer. He couldn't really be suggesting the notion of genocide. Was he really so hating of the humans that he didn't find any of them redeemable?

"Is that what you really believe? You really think that every single human on this planet is like that?"

"Either they are now or they grow up to be. Best to rid them all before it's too late."

Summer fell to her knees, then onto her hands. Her body was already in great pain, but hearing Barbary's words caused her more pain than any of the beatings she took. Summer had hoped that despite everything Barbary had done, there was perhaps one part of him that felt some kind of remorse; something, anything, to prove that Barbary wasn't the psychotic madman everyone assumed he was.

"I can't believe how I naive I've been," grunted Summer.

"Oh?"

"I thought Schnee was a monster...but he's nothing compared to you!"

Hearing himself being compared to Schnee started to infuriate Barbary.

"Are you suggesting I'm worse than that war monger? The man who makes my people suffer?"

"If not worse, certainly no better." As Summer was talking, she began to channel her aura into the ground, causing a rose with a thick stem to sprout out. "All you care about is hurting innocent people, and justify it by taking advantage of the Faunus! You use their fears and hatred to further your own sick agenda of genocide! People like you and Schnee are the reason the divide between humans and Faunus grows bigger! People like you are why I see children on both sides being scared of the other, thinking they're monsters out to kill."

Summer began to stand up again. As she was standing up, she grabbed the rose and yanked it out of the ground. The stem turned into a very long vine, at least six feet in length, with thorns sticking out all over. Summer stood straight and pointed her rose whip at Barbary.

"I want my children...all the children...to grow up in a world where humans and Faunus are treated as one. I will not let you take that away from them!"

Summer lifted her whip and swung at Barbary. Barbary smirked as he simply held up his right arm and allowed the whip to wrap around his arm. Despite the thorns pricking into his arm, he barely felt any pain. Once the whipped tightened around his arm, Barbary tried to pull Summer in.

"Humans and Faunus treated as one? You're a fool to believe that such a ridiculous dream can come true, and even more foolish in thinking you can stop me in your weakened state!"

"I'm not as weak as you think I am! I've got the power of nature on my side!"

"What can someone in your condition possibly do?"

Summer channeled her aura into her rose whip, causing the thorns on the whips to sharpen and extend, including the ones wrapped around Barbary's arm. The next thing Barbary knew, he can feel his arm punctured as if something had drilled its way through. Barbary roared in pain as blood was seeping through the whip. Barbary took out his machete and cut off the whip. Once the vine dropped to the ground, he noticed his arm now completely covered in his blood. The site of seeing so much of his own blood caused Barbary to snap.

While Barbary was dealing with his wound, Summer retracted what remained of her whip and began channeling her aura into the ground. Barbary held up his machete and charged at Summer. Barbary was about to stab Summer when a tree suddenly sprouted in between them, catching the machete. Barbary used such force that the whole knife went into the tree, lodging the knife in tightly. Barbary tried to pull it out in vain, as Summer began to quickly climb up the tree to avoid Barbary.

"No matter!" shouted Barbary. "I don't need my weapons when I've got my pure strength!"

Barbary took several steps back, then ran full force at the tree shoulder first. The force of his tackle was enough to break the tree apart, causing it to timber. Summer jumped off the tree and landed safely to the ground, once again placing her palm to the ground. Barbary ran after her, not wanting to give her a chance to produce another tree. Just a few feet before reaching Summer, his foot was suddenly caught in a trap that clamped around his ankle and caused him to trip; it was as if he stepped in a bear trap. He looked down and saw he was bitten as a large Venus fly trap. He bent over and slashed the fly trap off him with his claws. He tried to stand back up only to step in another Venus fly trap, this time on his other ankle. He pulled hard with his foot to free himself of the plant. The plant suddenly broke off and caused him to fall flat on his back. The moment he fell back, more Venus fly traps suddenly sprung up and clamped down on his arms and legs. The plants acid began to seep into his arms, which was extremely painful for his right one due to the cuts all over.

As Barbary struggled to free himself from the acidic plants, Summer ran over to the fallen tree. She concentrated her aura into the tree and caused it to break into dozens of wooden shards. Using her semblance, the shards hovered high above her, ready to be thrown at her command. Summer sent several of the shards at Barbary. Barbary freed himself from the plants and rolled away just in time as the shards struck the ground. Summer sent more of the shards at Barbary, who ran around Summer to avoid getting hit. While Barbary avoided the shards, Summer channeled some of her aura into the ground to create a field of leafy green plants around her.

Once Summer ran out of shards to attack with, Barbary charged at Summer in a blind rage. He slashed at Summer with his left arm, the only good arm he had left. Summer used her aura to straighten out her short rose whip, turning it into an impromptu sword, and blocked Barbary's attack. Barbary kept swinging wildly with his left arm as Summer parried each strike with her rose sword. Barbary got so frustrated at one point he tried to lunge at Summer. Summer jumped to the side as Barbary landed into the field of green plants Summer had created.

"You really should not have done that," remarked Summer.

Barbary took it as Summer mocking him for missing his attack. Barbary stood up and tried to charge at Summer when he suddenly felt a burning sensation take over his entire upper body. His body broke out in rashes and began to affect his vision.

"What did you do to me?" yelled Barbary as pulled on his mane in pain.

"You fell into excoecaria, a plant that can cause serious pain if you allow it to touch your bare skin, which you foolishly did. As I told you before Barbary, this field gives my semblance of nature the advantage!"

Summer walked over to Barbary, ready to bring this fight to an end. Barbary tried to run after Summer but felt the strength in his body draining away. Summer swung her rose sword at Barbary, who could only hold up his useless arms to block. The thorns of Summer's rose cut through his arms, making his defense ultimately pointless. Barbary could barely move and see, giving Summer full carte blanche in the fight. Summer continued to swing her rose sword, cutting into Barbary's chest again and again. Barbary's body was full of cuts, lashes, and lacerations. In defiance of everything he was going through, Barbary held up his left arm and slowly went for one last swing. Summer simply stepped back as Barbary missed, then fell forward and collapsed to the ground.

"Go ahead human, finish me off!" said Barbary. "I've brought shame and dishonor to the Faunus and the Black Paw! Send me to the afterlife where I belong!"

Summer tossed her rose aside and walked over to her axe. Barbary assumed she was going to cut his head off with the axe. Instead, Summer placed the axe on her back. She reached into her first aid kit and pulled out a roll of bandages. She walked over to Barbary and began to roll the bandages around his severely wounded right arm. Barbary was confused as to what Summer was doing.

"I am a huntress," said Summer. "I made a vow to hunt and kill the Grimm, not my fellow man and Faunus."

"So even after all I've said, you still won't kill me?"

"Of course not; because then I'd be a vile disgusting human like Schnee."

After Summer was done with Barbary's arm, Summer quickly wrapped around any wounds she had, then tossed the remaining roll to Barbary.

"You can wrap the remaining wounds yourself. Then when you're done, I want you to run away. Run to a place nobody will ever find you again and let the world forget you exist."

"And should I not do that?"

"Then I'll retire as a huntress and hunt you down like the soulless monster that you are."

Summer turned and walked away. Barbary took the roll in hands and looked at it with disgust. He was enraged and embarrassed that he lost to a human, and wasn't even given an honorable death. He stood up, tossed the roll aside, and looked around to find his torn uniform. He ran over to his uniform which still had one grenade attached. He removed the grenade from his pouch and hurled it at Summer.

"Die human scum!" shouted Barbary as he tossed the grenade. Summer turned around to see what Barbary was yelling about when she saw the grenade coming for her. Summer panicked and began to run away. She only made it a few feet when the grenade went off and flung her body to the ground. The shrapnel of the grenade pierced her left leg, causing her to be unable to get up. Barbary went over and grabbed his machete, and slowly approached Summer, laughing maniacally. Summer tried to crawl away, but it was useless.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance human! Now I'll prove just how dumb you were to trust me! The Black Paw will rise!"

Before Barbary can do anything, a sudden roar echoed in the forest.

"What the hell was that?" said Barbary. Out of the forest came a trio of Ursas, one of them being an Ursa Major. Knowing Grimm were going to approach, Summer quickly used her semblance to cover herself in a bed of mint plants to cover her scent. Not detecting Summer in the area, the Ursas began approaching Barbary.

"Go away you pests!" said Barbary. "Go find some other human to feast on!"

The Ursa Major let out a roar as the other gave chase to Barbary. Knowing he didn't have a chance against them, Barbary began to run away from the Ursas. The wounds around his body came back to haunt him as pain shot throughout his whole body when he started running. It wasn't long until the Ursas caught up to him and went in for the kill.

#

Cinder had been running through the forest in a panic. She had been running nonstop ever since her scroll was indicating that Summer's aura was nearly depleted. When she heard the loud roars of an Ursa, Cinder ran towards the noise hoping it was a sign Summer was nearby. Cinder eventually ran out into an open field, where she saw plants and fallen wood scattered all over. Summer had to have been here.

"Summer!" shouted Cinder. "Where are you?"

"Cinder? Is that you?"

Cinder turned to the bed of plants a few feet away from her. Summer brushed the plants off her and sat up. Cinder ran over and hugged Summer. As much as Summer appreciated the gesture, it only caused her to be in more pain.

"Are you okay?" asked Cinder.

"Anything but!" gasped Summer. Cinder let go of Summer and noticed all of Summer's wounds. She especially noticed Summer's leg looking torn apart.

"Oh my God! What happened?"

"Got hit by a grenade. That monster threw it after I decided to spare him."

"Where is that son of a bitch?" said Cinder, standing up and ready to fight Barbary.

"He's dead."

"Dead? You mean you-"

"He tried to finish me off when a pack of Ursas suddenly came through. The last thing I heard was the Ursas overpowering him and dragging his corpse away."

"There's Grimm all over this forest. I'll contact Qrow." Cinder took out her scroll and sent a message to Qrow that she found Summer and needed his help right away.

"We can't stay here," said Summer. "We'll just be sitting ducks for whatever Grimm decides to pop up."

"Right," replied Cinder. Cinder lifted Summer up, placing her arm over her shoulder while Summer stood on her one good leg. The two of them went back into the forest in search of a hiding spot.

They wandered the forest trying to find a cave to hide out in, hoping to avoid any Grimm along the way. Their hopes were quickly cut short when they suddenly came across a pack of Beowolves. The Beowolves quickly picked up their scent and turned towards the two. Summer wanted to shout every swear word she knew. Cinder laid Summer against a tree and approached the pack.

"You stay back and relax," said Cinder. "I've got this."

As the pack zeroed in on the huntresses, Cinder created several fire glyphs on the ground, then activated columns of fire that singed all the wolves approaching them. Cinder quickly shot fireballs at the wolves to keep them away. The wolves decided to turn around and retreat. Before they can relax, more wolves suddenly appeared from the left. Cinder turned to the left and focused on those wolves, not realizing more were coming in from the right. Summer got off the tree she was laying on and used her semblance to create tree trunks to stop the wolves from approaching them. As she was using her semblance, she suddenly started to feel dizzy, her legs going wobbly. Summer fell to her knees, feeling completely drain of life. One of the wolves got past the trees and went to slash Summer, only to suddenly be burned by Cinder.

"Are you okay?" asked Cinder.

"I'm okay," said Summer, gasping between breathes.

"You're obviously not. Just stay back and let me handle this."

"Cinder, be honest; you can't fight them while having to drag me along. Forget about me and go!"

"Like hell I am! We're going to get out of this alive together, you hear me?"

Cinder turned back to the wolves approaching her and continued using her magic to blast them away with fire.

"I am your partner, and as your partner, I am not going to allow you to die in some forsaken forest!"

As the two became surrounded by more wolves, a loud caw suddenly rang out above them, causing the wolves to run away. They looked up and saw a Nevermore flying above them. This wasn't good; with Summer incapable of putting up a fight, a Grimm that powerful would be too much for them to handle.

"Time to go!" said Cinder, grabbing Summer and running. As Cinder and Summer were running, Cinder was praying that the Nevermore would just ignore them and fly off somewhere else. Unfortunately, the Nevermore continued to fly over them, marking them as its prey.

The Nevermore stopped its flight and shot its feathers at Summer and Cinder. The two of them can hear the giant feathers of the Nevermore landing behind them. Had they slowed down for even a second, it would have been the end of their careers to say the least. Cinder desperately wanted to stop and catch her breath, but she couldn't. She needed to keep running; she needed to make sure Summer was safe at all costs.

Meanwhile in another side of the forest, Qrow had noticed the Nevermore in the sky firing its feathers to the ground below. It had to mean someone was there. Qrow quickly dashed in the direction he saw the feathers fall, hoping he would make it in time.

The Nevermore was starting to catch up. Cinder tried to run faster, she wanted to run faster, but her body was desperately pleading for her to stop. The Nevermore stopped and fired more feathers at the two huntresses.

"Get down!" shouted Summer. Summer and Cinder hit the ground as the feathers landed around them. Once the feathers stopped, they got back up and started running in a different direction, which did little good with the Nevermore still able to follow them. Cinder was starting to panic. They couldn't run from this Nevermore forever, but they didn't stand a chance in fighting it.

Cinder can feel her heart pounding fast; a lot faster than it should. Cinder's body was giving in, too exhausted to keep running at the pace they needed to go. Cinder kept mentally shouting at herself to keep going, but her body wouldn't cooperate. She began to slow down, going at a snail's pace. At this rate it looked like they would be done for.

Summer looked behind her to see the Nevermore hover over them. The Nevermore spread its wings and went for one more strike with its feathers. With the feathers coming down at them, Summer stood on her wounded leg, broke free of Cinder's grip, and placed her palm on Cinder's back, pushing her forward with as much strength as she can muster.

Cinder barely had time to comprehend what was going on. In just a second, she had suddenly lost her grip on Summer and was suddenly falling to the side. She collapsed to the ground as she heard the feathers of the Nevermore piercing the ground around them. One of the feathers sounded differently though. The sound it made can best be described as squishy. It sounded disturbing and sickening. Cinder looked to the source of the noise.

There she saw Summer. She saw the way Summer's arm pointed out, making it clear it was her that pushed Cinder forward. She saw how Summer stood on her wounded leg to give her the strength needed to push Cinder.

And she saw the feather that had pierced into her back and through her stomach, causing Summer to bleed profusely. Her skin turned pale as her blood began to stain her once bright white hood. The sight of that feather caused Cinder to make the same horrifying face as Summer was making. Satisfied with its work, the Nevermore cawed one last time before flying away. Summer collapsed forward, feather still sticking out of her.

"SUMMER!" yelled Cinder, running over to Summer. Cinder tried removing the feather with her bare hands, but was too weak to do anything. Cinder was cursing at herself for not having the strength to remove the feather.

"Cinder..." said Summer, sounding rough and coughing up bits of saliva and blood. Cinder went over to Summer, her tears pouring as freely as Summer's blood.

"Summer, you have to hang on!" cried Cinder, hanging on to Summer's hand and squeezing it tightly. "Please, save whatever strength you can! You can't die like this!"

"If you...see...my kids..."

"No...stop..."

"Tell them...I'm sorry...and...love...them..."

"God dammit Summer stop that! You're going to live! I promised I would!"

Cinder's lips began to quiver, her nose running heavily, her eyes turning bloodshot red, her heart beating rapidly, her breath quickly going in and out. Cinder didn't want to believe this was how it was going to end; she refused to believe this was really happening.

"Cinder...listen to me."

Cinder stopped her crying to listen to Summer, who tried to give a reassuring smile.

"Close your eyes...don't you cry..."

"Love's around you," responded Cinder. "In time, you'll fly."

"Don't you worry...about the dark..."

"I will light up the night with the love in my heart. I will burn like the sun...I will keep you safe and warm."

Summer closed her eyes and began to slow her breathing while Cinder kept singing for her.

"Like the smell of a rose on a summer's day, I will be there to take all your fears away. With a touch of my hand, I will turn your life to..."

That's when Cinder realized Summer wasn't moving. She grabbed Summer's shoulder and started pushing her lightly; no response. Cinder moved her hands to Summer's neck and felt nothing. She leaned down and placed her ear near Summer's mouth, hoping to hear faint signs of breathing. She heard nothing.

"No...Summer...your kids...your family..."

It was over. There was nothing Cinder can do.

Here and now lied Summer Rose, an exceptionally skilled huntress, her partner, her best friend, a loving mother of two beautiful children, giving up her life to save Cinder's.

Cinder covered her eyes and screamed incoherently between her tears.

As Cinder screamed, Qrow finally arrived. Seeing the feather sticking out of Summer, he feared for the worst as he dashed towards the two huntresses. Qrow used his Grimm Ripper to slash the feather in two and remove the bone out of Summer. He quickly realized he was too late; his sister had already died before he arrived. He removed his hood and placed it around Cinder to calm her down, but it would do little good.

Holding back tears of his own, Qrow took out his scroll and prepared to do the hardest task he ever had to do.

#

Ozpin's team had rid the Taijitu infestation and rendezvoused with Schnee's personnel. They were making preparations to get out of the forest when they received a message from Qrow. All of them gasped at the horrifying message:

"Summer has fallen."

"This can't be!" said Port. "Has Miss Rose really...?"

"We need to evacuate immediately," said Goodwitch. "Tell Schnee to pick up Team Summer, then come for us."

While Goodwitch was trying to get things done, Ozpin just stared into his scroll. He didn't move nor say another word; it was like he was in a trance he couldn't snap out of.

The rest of his memories of that day were all a blur.

#

Ruby and Yang were watching TV in the living room. Their father was in the kitchen preparing dinner when he heard his scroll beeping. He checked to see that he got a message from Qrow.

Ruby and Yang were laughing and enjoying themselves when they heard something fall in the kitchen. They went in the kitchen to see their father had dropped his scroll; his arms were shaking and his face was turning pale.

"Something wrong dad?" asked Yang.

"Daddy?" said Ruby. "What's wrong?"

Their father turned to them, tears forming in his eyes. He got down on his knees and held out his arms for a hug. Ruby and Yang walked over and hugged their father, not entirely sure what was going on.

#

_Two days later_

Summer Rose

Thus Kindly I Scatter

That was the wording of the tombstone set up at the snowy cliff Summer always loved to go to. It would be on this cliff that her ashes would be scattered over the mountain at the end of her memorial.

At the memorial were various staff members of Beacon, her family, Cinder, Mr. Schnee and his daughter, and various friends. Even Faunus from the White Fang had shown up to pay their respects, including Blake. While most held their head down in silence, Ruby held onto Yang and was crying. Qrow stood to the right of the tombstone holding the urn containing her ashes, while Ozpin stood by the left making his speech.

"Summer Rose was as loving as she was daring, as smart as she was strong, and as beautiful as her name implies. Summer lived her life putting others ahead of herself, whether it was to tend to the needs of her family, or the needs of her allies in battle, or the needs of total strangers she had no relation with, or the needs of all of humanity. Words alone cannot express the gratitude mankind has for such a wonderful human being, and here today, we spread her ashes so that her soul can reach the far ends of the world, so that all can feel the touch of a woman we are all better for having known."

Qrow turned to the edge of the cliff and held the urn up high.

"Sister, wherever you may go, may your ashes bring light to a world of darkness."

Qrow opened up the urn and poured out the ashes of Summer, as the cold wind quickly began to blow them off the cliff into the region below.

"Farewell Summer Rose; thus kindly you scatter."

With the memorial finished, the guests began to walk up to the tombstone to say their piece, some leaving farewell gifts. Blake placed the rose given to her by Summer.

"Goodbye Miss Summer," said Blake. "Thank you for helping me and the Faunus."

Blake and the rest of the Faunus left the memorial. As her father was discussing matters with other guests, Weiss walked up the tombstone and placed the white rose given to her.

"Thank you for saving us from the Faunus Miss Summer," said Weiss before quickly running back to her father.

Ozpin merely stood where he was, looking out amongst all the guests. Most of them had gone up to Summer's husband to offer their condolences and talk of how good Summer really was. He saw Cinder still standing where she was; her face showing no emotional expression. All this time she had simply stared at the ground in silence, as if too broken to do anything else.

He then looked to see Qrow holding a girl in a red hood in his arms, patting her back and trying to get her to calm down. Ozpin caught a glimpse of the girl's face; she had bright silver eyes, exactly like Summer did.

Those silver eyes. He remembered when he first met Summer Rose at Beacon; the first thing he noticed was those unique shiny eyes. Those eyes usually came with a big smile any time they met. When in battle, those eyes also showed the guts and desire to win the fight and save the day.

It was those eyes that Ozpin stared into and convinced that fighting the Black Paw was necessary.

It was because of him that those eyes went into battle for the greater good.

It was because of him those eyes were never coming back.

Ozpin couldn't take being there anymore. He walked past everyone and headed back to his car. Seeing him leave in a rush, Goodwitch quickly caught up to him.

"Is something wrong Professor Ozpin?" asked Goodwitch.

"We need to go," replied Ozpin. "We have work to do after all.

"Of course," said Goodwitch.

#

Both of them returned to Beacon and went into Ozpin's office. Ozpin sat at his desk as Goodwitch brought in a stack of papers.

"We have quite a lot of work ahead of us," said Goodwitch. "Here are all the transcripts for the latest Beacon applicants. I've already made some notes concerning them but I know you like to go through them yourself. I've also received the latest line of missions from the Vale Hunters Station."

As Goodwitch placed her paperwork on Ozpin's desk, he simply sat in his desk and placed his elbows on the desk, resting his head on top of his hands, covering his eyes. Goodwitch could tell what was going through his mind.

"Professor Ozpin, I know you're upset about Summer. We're all very saddened about what happened, but we need to move on." Ozpin didn't respond, choosing to remain sitting there in silence. "Would you like me to get you a coffee sir?"

Ozpin still didn't respond, but Goodwitch went over to make him a cup anyway. She placed the mug on his desk. Ozpin finally sat up and grabbed the mug, feeling the warmth of the glass on his hand.

"Glynda," said Ozpin, "I need you to do me a favor."

Goodwitch was shocked at what Ozpin just said. He called her Glynda. He usually called her Miss Goodwitch as a professional courtesy. He would never call her by her first name unless he had something personal to tell her, which happened so infrequently she couldn't remember the last time he simply called her Glynda.

"Yes Professor Ozpin?"

"I'd like to be alone for a while."

Goodwitch nodded and left the room. She had never felt so worried about Ozpin before; the last thing she wanted to do was leave Ozpin, but at the same time, she never turned down his orders.

Ozpin set aside his mug, stood up and picked up the photo at his desk. There in the middle was Summer Rose, still a bright smiling freshman. They had only been in Beacon together for a short amount of time, but they kept in touch so often they were like extended family. Summer's skills and trustworthiness was the reason Ozpin always considered her the best huntress to do any mission that required a huntress.

So when it came to the big mission against the Black Paw, of course he wanted Summer to be there. When Summer wanted to back down, he went out of his way to convince Summer it needed to be done. He reminded her of who she was fighting for and why she was the one who needed to fight Barbary. He remembered one of the last things she ever said to him: "I trust you."

Deep down, Ozpin knew Summer would always trust him. He knew he can convince Summer to do what he wanted. He stared into those silver eyes and took advantage of that trust.

Those silver eyes; they were still looking at him through that photo. The more he stared at those eyes, the more he could have sworn they started to speak to him; telling him how they trusted Ozpin, how Ozpin wouldn't let anything happen to them, how Ozpin knew what he had to be doing.

Those silver eyes.

He couldn't bear to look at them anymore.

Ozpin screamed as threw the frame down as hard he could, breaking the outer frame apart and shattering the glass all over the floor. He picked up his mug and took a look at the logo of the school; the school he was assigned headmaster of. He threw the mug on to the floor as well, forgetting that it was still full of coffee. The mug shattered into pieces and splattered glass and coffee all over the floor, drenching the photo and ruining the picture. He picked up all the papers off his desk and threw them up in the air, sending them flying all over the room. With nothing else to throw, he slammed his desk as hard he could repeatedly and kept screaming.

Upon hearing glass shattering and Ozpin swearing to himself at the top of his lungs, Goodwitch ran back into the office to see Ozpin standing by his desk, tears rolling down his face. Before Goodwitch could say anything, Ozpin suddenly turned and left the room without saying a word. Goodwitch figured he needed some time away from Beacon to clear his head. She stayed in the room and cleaned up the mess.

#

A few days had passed since the memorial. Qrow decided to visit Ozpin's office, only to find Goodwitch at his desk instead, going over paperwork.

"Hello Glynda," said Qrow.

"Hello Qrow, replied Goodwitch. "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to talk to Ozpin but he isn't answering my messages. Where is he?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. I haven't had any contact with him since the memorial."

"Well, when he comes back, tell him I need to talk to him."

"That won't be possible."

"What do you mean it won't be possible?"

Goodwitch put down the papers she was working on and took a deep breath.

"Qrow...he's not coming back."

"What are you talking about?"

"After the memorial he went...well, he wasn't himself to say the least. The next day when I didn't see him, I assumed he would be taking a leave of absence. But when I stepped into his office, I found this."

Goodwitch handed Qrow some documents. Skimming through the first page, it didn't take very long to understand what she meant.

As of the day the papers were found, Ozpin had resigned as headmaster of Beacon.


	6. Chapter 5

The past week had been a blur to Cinder. All she can remember doing since the memorial was hole herself up in her apartment, only leaving to drink at the nearest dive bar. She'd then wake up in her apartment with no memory of how she got back home and a hangover that wrecked her head.

Tonight was no different. She sat at the bar with a bottle of beer in hand, staring down on the table and contemplating her purpose in life. She avoided talking with anybody that came by, save for the occasional small talk with the bartender. She could barely remember the man's real name, but most people just called him Junior anyway.

"Not that it's any of my business, but I've been seeing you here a lot lately," said Junior. "Having problems back home?"

"I lost someone very close," muttered Cinder, sitting up and finishing the last of her drink.

"Sorry to hear that. Not to give unwanted advice, but you're not going to find answers at the bottom of a bottle."

"Maybe after more drinks I will," she replied, signaling for another round. Junior sighed and pulled out another bottle for her.

As Cinder was drowning her sorrows, two Faunus entered the bar and sat beside Cinder.

"Sucks what happened to Barbary, ya know?"

"Yeah. At least he went out and made a difference, unlike the White Fang."

"Man, if the White Fang were more like the Black Paw, us Faunus would be better off."

"I hear that!"

Ah yes, the Black Paw. Ever since the news broke out that Barbary and a majority of the faction were killed in that mission, word was going around that the group had been in such disarray that they eventually dissolved. A lot of people were happy to hear of the faction's demise, unaware of those who paid the price to see it happen.

That was the last thing Cinder wanted to be reminded of. The Black Paw, that mission, Summer...she wanted to forget. She wanted to drink until her memory was destroyed.

Just her luck, the TV on top of the bar was starting to play the nightly news, and the top story just happened to be about the Black Paw. The White Fang sent out a statement saying that despite the horrible actions taken by the Black Paw, they were still saddened by the loss of Faunus life. The two Faunus at the bar started booing.

"You ain't sad for crap White Fang!"

"Maybe if you went out and did something there wouldn't have to have been a Black Paw!"

"Keep it down boys," said Junior. "Some of us are trying to listen."

Shortly after reading the statement made by the White Fang, the newscasters interviewed Schnee himself. The Faunus booed even louder at the sight of Schnee as Junior kept telling them to be quiet. Cinder turned her attention to the TV.

"I am happy to learn of the Black Paw disbanding," said Schnee. "Not just for myself, but for the sake of all humanity."

"Like he actually cares about humanity!" said one of the Faunus.

"Last warning," said Junior. "Keep it down or I'm throwing you out."

Schnee went on to talk about all the good his corporation was doing, and the usual denial of allegations against the things he did against the Faunus. Schnee acted as if he was completely innocent of this whole affair and groups like the Black Paw and the White Fang were attacking him out of malice. The more Schnee talked, the more it stirred anger in Cinder.

Schnee wanted to take down Black Paw at any costs, but what exactly did it cost him? He didn't make any sacrifices; he didn't go out and fight the Black Paw on his own; he didn't have to face down the Grimm; he didn't have to see his closest friend die. All he had to do was pay the right people to do the job for him.

Yet it was him who would reap all the rewards, without even so much as an acknowledgement to the people who helped get him there. People like Summer Rose, who hated his guts, hated everything he stood for, and yet performed her duties without any obligation to do so. Summer had paid the ultimate price, while Schnee paid nothing.

He was the reason Summer Rose was gone.

No, not just him; all of them. They were the ones who pressured Summer to go; they were the ones who ignored what Summer wanted; they were the ones who never considered the family that needed their wife and mother. They were all selfish.

They were the reason Summer Rose was gone.

The thought of those people enraged Cinder. She formed a fireball in her hand and hurled it at the TV, shattering it to pieces. The bar suddenly went quiet from Cinder's outburst.

"Hey lady," said Junior," we don't like the guy either, but that was no reason to break my TV. I think you need to go home."

Cinder took out whatever money she had left, slammed it on the bar, and stormed out of there. She found a new purpose in life, and she was going to start carrying it out.

#

Ozpin wondered if he deserved to be here. Would it be disrespectful to never show up here to acknowledge his faults, or was it disrespectful to show up considering he's the reason this happened?

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee from his thermos to keep himself warm on the frosty mountain as he approached the edge of the cliff. There it was as clear as day: the tombstone with a rose emblem and the name of the fallen huntress.

Ozpin had turned into a wreck. His hair was disheveled, his face was full of stubble, and his clothes were a mess. He ignored all of his calls, wanting to avoid contact with the outside world. He could barely eat let alone drink, and he could never sleep. Every time he tried to go to sleep, he could only see those silver eyes that haunted him. That was all he could think about.

That's the reason he felt he needed to come here. He didn't know what would happen when he showed up, but he knew he would get an answer. Whether it was bad or good, he was ready to accept his fate.

Ozpin approached the tombstone and looked down on the name.

"Hello Summer," said Ozpin. "It's...been a while."

Ozpin struggled to find the right words to say. Were there even right words to say? Nevertheless, he tried to think of something.

"I...um...I like to think you're looking down on us. We all you miss Summer. Some...more than others." Ozpin took a large sip of his coffee to clear his throat. "I was thinking about that mission and...I never really thanked you. Seems like something I...I should have done. You did a really great job Summer. That doesn't surprise me really. You always were a great huntress. I just..."

Ozpin stopped to wipe away the tears starting to form in his eyes.

"I just didn't expect things to end this way. I mean there's always this risk no matter what mission you go on. That's just the downside of being a huntsman. But I was so sure it would be fine. I mean, you were Summer Rose. You never failed any mission you took. There couldn't be any way that you would...you would..."

Ozpin dropped his thermos, fell to his knees, and bashed his hand against the tombstone, nearly breaking his hand.

"God dammit!" yelled Ozpin, this time letting the tears fall loose. "I should be the one in this grave! I'm the one who should have fought Barbary, not you! Why the hell did I ever think of sending you? You never wanted to go! You wanted to remain a real huntress! You had a family to raise! And I... I took that all away from you. Summer, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for making you go! I'm sorry for getting you involved in this! I'm sorry for everything!"

Ozpin laid his body against the grave and cried. He cried for a good minute straight before lifting himself up.

"Summer, if you can hear me...please send me some kind of sign you forgive me."

Ozpin was so entranced with his emotions, he didn't hear the footsteps of someone approaching behind him.

"I had a feeling I'd find you here eventually."

Ozpin turned around and saw Qrow. Ozpin sighed and stood up to face Qrow.

"Go ahead Qrow," said Ozpin, "rub it in."

"Rub what in?"

"You were right. I made a mistake I can't erase. I...I killed Summer."

Qrow remained quiet, wanting to hear what more Ozpin had to say.

"You always felt that I was never fit to become headmaster of Beacon, and this tombstone is proof of that. You probably hate me to the point that you want to kill me. Well Qrow, I'm giving you this chance." Ozpin held out his arms, closed his eyes and bent his head back. "Do what you want with me."

Qrow took out his Grimm Ripper and activated it's scythe mode. Ozpin thought it was appropriate; Qrow always looked like death himself with that cloak and weapon of his, and now he was here to claim what was left of Ozpin's soul.

Qrow lifted his weapon and slammed it to the ground. Ozpin opened his eyes to see Qrow leave his weapon there.

"I'm not here to kill you, idiot," said Qrow. "I've been trying to contact you for days. Glynda says you left Beacon, and you look like a Grimm's fecal matter."

"What do you want from me Qrow?" yelled Ozpin.

"Relax Ozpin. Sit down, shut up, and drink some more of that coffee of yours."

Ozpin didn't sit down, nor did he decide to pick up his thermos. He simply remained still and quiet. Qrow walked up and looked down on the grave along with Ozpin.

"I've been seeing the kids a lot lately to see how they've adjusted. You know the little one with the red cloak?"

"How could I not? She was crying throughout the whole memorial."

"Her name is Ruby Rose. Such a perfect name for that one. Anyway, as I was checking on them, I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. You know what she told me?" Qrow turned to Ozpin and smiled. "She wants to grow up to be a huntress."

Ozpin was stunned. Even after all that had happened, this little girl who must have been hurt far worse than anybody over Summer's death, was wanting to be a huntress.

"I asked her why she wanted to be a huntress. She told me because huntresses protected the innocent; they were heroes who slayed the evil Grimm to protect humanity. I asked her why not be a different kind of hero? Why a huntress specifically? And you know what she told me?" Now Qrow was the one who was starting to tear up. "Because she wanted to be like her mother."

Qrow was finding delight in hearing Ruby say that, but all it did was make Ozpin's stomach churn. It was only making him feel more guilty about what he must have put Summer's family through. Qrow continued.

"Before we had set out on this mission, Summer told me that if the worst were to happen, to make sure her daughters didn't grow up to be huntresses. I didn't quite understand her request at the time, but now I know why." The smile from Qrow faded as he went right back to having his trademark scowl.

"Because being a huntsman is total bullshit. We're trained to be guardians, but that's not what we become. We become soldiers working for the highest bidder; pawns to be sacrificed in the name of the king. We don't fight for humanity; we fight for the ones who sign our paychecks. That's the dark, awful truth of being a huntsman or a huntress. I accepted this fate a long time ago. Summer on the other hand refused. She vowed to be a true huntress; a warrior sent to slay monsters, not our fellow man and Faunus. That was until this very mission.

"After all these years of trying to maintain her optimism, this mission finally caved her in. After this mission, she couldn't call herself a true huntress. That's why she doesn't want her daughters to grow up and become huntresses themselves; she doesn't want them to waste their lives becoming nothing more than glorified mercenaries."

Glorified mercenaries; it was such a fitting title. That's what Ozpin had turn his huntsmen and huntresses into. He didn't deserve to be headmaster at Beacon, much less show his face there.

"I used to think Summer was so naive in trying to be a so-called true huntress. But after talking with Ruby, I began to think to myself...is that really such a bad thing? To be naive to the true workings of what a huntsman and a huntress do? Maybe the

problem isn't that they are naive; maybe it's us who have become apathetic to this line of work and have given up trying to make things different.

"Summer made me promise to make sure Ruby and Yang do not grow up to be a huntresses, and as much as I love my sister and her daughters...I'm not going to keep that promise. If Ruby and Yang want to be huntresses, then I'm not going to stand in their way. In fact, I'll even make sure they join Signal when the times comes. Because perhaps if the world had more people like Summer Rose..."

Qrow turned back to Ozpin and smiled again.

"Then being a huntsman or a huntress would be something to be proud of. We can truly call ourselves heroes."

Qrow went over to pick up Ozpin's thermos and gave it to him, then patted Ozpin on the shoulder.

"Call me when you've come back to your old self, friend."

Qrow took back his weapon and left. Ozpin didn't know what to think. He expected Qrow to yell at him, hate him, even kill him for what Ozpin did to Summer Rose. Instead he talked about her and her family, and even more surprisingly, he smiled.

Ozpin turned back to the grave one last time. Was this the sign that Summer forgave him? Did he even deserve this forgiveness in the first place?

He didn't get his answer after all.

#

With just a few minutes until closing time, the manager of Snowflake Jewelers was getting ready to close the store and head home for the night. Just when he was about to shut the lights, a customer came in through the door. The manager hated last minute customers, so hopefully this one was going to be quick with her selection.

Cinder looked at all the jewelry displayed on the cases. All very valuable, and all of it belonging to a man who did nothing to deserve the fortune he would make off them.

"May I help you ma'am?"

"I was wondering if you can answer a few questions for me."

"Of course," said the manager. He said it sincerely, but was secretly loathing having to stay any longer than he needed to.

"This store is owned by the Schnee Corporation, correct?"

"Um...yes? That's why we have the logo out front."

"How much would you say this store is worth?"

The manager quickly lost his patience with Cinder. "Ma'am, we're closing in exactly one minute. Are you here to pick something out or-"

Cinder suddenly shot a ball of fire at the man, hurling him into one of the display cases and shattering glass all over the floor.

"Consider this store closed permanently."

#

With Summer's husband now working, Qrow came over to watch the kids for the night. With both of them now in bed, Qrow was in the living room watching the news. There was a breaking story about a series of arsons that had occurred in the business district of Vale. All of the businesses were high-end places only the rich can afford, and all of them happened to have been owned by Schnee, which didn't surprise Qrow.

"Oh look, more people who hate the Schnees. Guess they didn't listen to his magnificent speech last night."

The news story then reported that the police had a sketch of the suspect as described by the manager of the now burnt down jewelry store who just barely escaped before his store went up in flames. Qrow expected the suspect to either be a Black Paw alumni or some crazy person with a Robin Hood complex.

When the sketch was shown, Qrow had to pause his TV and slap himself a couple times to see if what he saw was true. It was a sketch of Cinder.

"No...she didn't..."

Qrow went upstairs to make sure the kids were asleep, then immediately ran out the door and called a cab, giving him directions to Cinder's apartment. When he arrived, he saw part of the building damaged by fire, with one of the apartments looking completely destroyed. It was around the area Cinder's apartment would be located. Qrow went inside the building and talked to the receptionist at the front desk.

"Excuse me," said Qrow. "What happened to the apartment on the fourth floor?"

"One of the rooms caught fire this morning. Nothing's left of the place."

"I believe my friend lived in that apartment. Can you tell me whose apartment it was?"

The secretary pulled up the information on the apartment. "It was rented out to a person named Cinder Fall."

"Thanks," said Qrow before exiting the building.

It was as Qrow was suspecting; Cinder was going on a rampage against Schnee, and was going to take down everything he owned and anyone who stood in her way. Qrow took out his scroll and tuned in to the Vale police scanner to listen in on any possible updates on Cinder. Most of them were reporting of the arsons and checking out other businesses owned by Schnee as a possible target. Qrow went online and looked up all the properties owned by Schnee in Vale. He looked through the list to see what Cinder might target next. At the bottom of the list was the target Qrow believed would be hit next: The Schnee Manor. With the entire police force on a manhunt within Vale, no one would think of looking for her outside of the city limits.

Qrow went into his contacts list and contacted Ozpin.

#

Ozpin sat silently in his living room, sipping on his coffee and thinking about what Qrow had said to him that morning. He wanted Ozpin to come back to his old self, but Ozpin wasn't sure if he had what it took to be the old him again.

While Ozpin continued to be lost in his own thoughts, his scroll began ringing. Ozpin simply let the scroll ring until it went to his voicemail. He got up and looked to see who left a message; it was from Qrow. Ozpin initially wanted to just delete it, but decided to play it in case he had something important to tell him.

"I don't know if you've been watching the news in the middle of your pity party, but Cinder has gone rogue. She's destroying places owned by Schnee, and I have a feeling she's going to make an appearance at the Schnee Manor. I'm going there to stop her. Free feel to stop by when you snap out of it."

Ozpin put his scroll down, sat back in his chair, and continued drinking his coffee. He wasn't sure how to feel about what Cinder was doing, much less whether or not he should do something about it.

#

Cinder arrived at the front gate of the Schnee manor. She used her powers to break down the gate, setting off the alarms. Several of Schnee's guards came out to confront Cinder. They began firing their machine guns at Cinder, who blocked all of their bullets using the glyph she surrounded herself with. Once they stopped firing, Cinder blasted them all away with her fire.

Schnee was watching the fight from the upper floor. Seeing his guards easily taken out, he began to run back to his master bedroom. His servants were beginning to leave the mansion, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

"You there!" he shouted to one of the servants. "Get Weiss, make your way out through the back, and get her as far away from here as possible!"

"Of course sir!"

Schnee went into his master bedroom and reached for a giant case under his bed. He unlocked the locks and opened the case; it contained his signature weapon, Myrtenaster, along with several cartridges of dust. Schnee grabbed his weapon and loaded it with all the dust he would need. As he was preparing his weapon, his daughter suddenly came running into the room.

"Father?" said Weiss. "What's going on? Is someone attacking us?"

"Father has everything under control Weiss, but you need to get out of here."

The servant came running into the room holding a suitcase full of Weiss' belongings and grabbed Weiss' hand, taking her out of the mansion. Once Schnee loaded all the dust he needed, he made his way to the main hall.

Cinder burst down the front door and entered the main hall. She looked around, wondering where she should start burning this place down. She looked up and noticed Schnee standing on the second floor with a weapon in hand. She was surprised Schnee actually had the nerve to stay behind and fight her himself.

"May I ask why you've decided to attack my home?" asked Schnee.

"You should know why," replied Cinder, immediately shooting a fireball at Schnee. Schnee jumped over the banister to dodge the attack and used a glyph to land safely on the ground.

"Were my businesses not enough?" asked Schnee. "Do you realize how much money you are costing me?"

"Are you angry Mr. Schnee? Are you upset of losing one or two of your precious businesses? Enraged over the pain I'm causing you?"

"Very much so!"

"That's nothing compared to the pain I feel!" yelled Cinder, firing several fireballs at Schnee.

Schnee put up a glyph to block Cinder's attacks, while switching to his blue dust chamber. Schnee swung his Myrtenaster and fired a wave of icy wind at Cinder. Cinder melted the ice coming for her, while Schnee used a glyph underneath himself to charge at full speed towards Cinder. Cinder powered up her aura, her arms starting to glow bright orange; once Schnee got close, Cinder unleashed a wave of fire that pushed Schnee with such a strong force he flew all the way into his living room. Cinder's blast also caused some parts of his home to catch on fire.

"She never wanted to help you!" said Cinder as she approached him. "She knew you were scum! But she fought for you anyway! She's the reason you and your daughter can sleep soundly at night knowing the Black Paw won't be an imminent threat!

"So is that what this is about?" asked Schnee. "Taking revenge over your friend's death? I'm sorry, but your loss is no excuse to be destroying my property!"

Cinder created more pillars of fire around Schnee. Schnee dodged the flames as his furniture was tossed about and engulfed in flames. Schnee switched to the red dust chamber on Myrtenaster, creating a red glow on the blade. Cinder began launching her fireballs; Schnee blocked each attack with his sword, causing Myrtenaster to grow brighter with each attack. Once the sword grew bright red, Schnee swung horizontally and unleashed a giant crescent flame, big enough to cover the entire room. With no way to dodge the attack, Cinder created her defensive glyph as the flame cut through her, nearly pushing her back. Schnee used another glyph to speed up and get in close to Cinder and switched to the white dust, then made several quick thrusts at Cinder. Cinder used her glyph to block Schnee's barrage of attacks.

Cinder created a pillar of fire underneath Schnee; Schnee quickly dodged the pillar and appeared behind Cinder, switching back to his blue dust chamber. He thrust Myrtenaster to the ground near Cinder's feet to create a pillar of ice to stop her; Cinder jumped out of the way just in time. Schnee jumped high in the air and created a glyph to jump off and charge at Cinder. Schnee swung at Cinder, who blocked the attack with her glyph. Schnee slid several feet away from Cinder, held up Myrtenaster and plunged it into the ground, created two pillars of ice that shot out in opposite directions, creating a giant circle of ice that surrounded both him and Cinder, preventing her from making any kind of escape.

With no way out and feeling the cold air of the ice chilling her body, Cinder started firing her attacks to the ceiling. The blasts from Cinder's attacks causing the ceiling to break apart and collapse to the ground. Schnee switched to the white dust chamber and created a glyph above himself to protect himself from the flaming debris falling on top of him. While he was protecting himself, he didn't notice Cinder created a glyph underneath him to unleash her next attack. By the time he noticed it was too late as Cinder used her semblance to explode the ground directly underneath Schnee. Schnee was flung several feet in the air and collapsed to the ground, seriously wounded from the blast.

"Look around you Schnee," said Cinder, walking to the fallen Schnee. "Look at how your beautiful home is being destroyed. It must pain you to see your precious possessions turn to ash. But that's not real pain!"

With Schnee barely able to stand up, Cinder jabbed her heel into Schnee's chest and pinned him to the ground.

"These paintings, this furniture, this house...none of it is any real loss to you. You can use your wealth to simply buy it all back. You need to learn what true loss feels like! You need to feel the pain of losing something you can never get back!" Cinder stared into Schnee's eyes and formed a sinister smile. "Something like say...a close member of your family."

Schnee was furious to hear Cinder make mention of his family. "Are you making threats about my daughter?" he asked, seething between his teeth.

"It's not a threat," said Cinder. "It's a promise."

Cinder removed her foot from his chest and began walking away. Schnee, filled with rage after hearing of Cinder's plan, willed himself to stand back up.

"Stop right there you bitch!" yelled Schnee. Cinder was just about to exit through the front door when she stopped at the moment Schnee called her that word. "I don't care how many of my belongings you decide to burn down to make yourself feel better. But I swear on the Schnee family name, I will not let you get anywhere close to Weiss!"

Schnee created a glyph underneath himself and charged at Cinder. Cinder created a pillar of fire just before Schnee reached her and blasted Schnee back. Cinder then fired several shots at Schnee, who formed a glyph to protect himself. His glyph started to fade away, as Schnee's aura was nearly depleted. With no chance of defending himself now, Cinder put all her energy into one final attack to finish off Schnee for good.

Before she can attack, she was suddenly shot from behind and was taken down. She looked up to see a flash of black suddenly run past her, pick up Schnee, and head to the backyard. Furious at seeing Schnee escape, Cinder began to set fire to more rooms of the house.

Once they got a safe distance away from the house, Qrow dropped Schnee onto the grass.

"I suggest getting out of here while you still can," said Qrow.

"That wench made threats against my daughter!" said Schnee. "I'm not leaving until I have her head hanging on my wall!"

"You're in no condition to fight, and besides, it doesn't look like you're going to have a wall anyway."

Qrow turned back to the mansion, which was nearly engulfed in flames. Out of the flames walked Cinder, infuriated in seeing Qrow standing beside Schnee.

"Still accepting Schnee's blood money Qrow?" asked Cinder.

"I'm not here for money Cinder," said Qrow. "I'm here to stop your senseless rampage."

"This rampage isn't senseless. I have my reasons for doing this."

"Let me guess: because of Summer. You think you're the only one who's upset over Summer's death? We were all hurt over what happened."

"Don't talk to me as if you actually cared about her! You never loved Summer! If you really cared about your sister, you should have stopped her from accepting the mission when you knew she didn't want to do it! But the only thing you ever cared about was getting a paycheck! How does it feel to receive blood money Qrow, knowing that it's your own sister's blood?"

"Of course I loved my sister, but that doesn't mean I needed to make her decisions for her. She was a grown woman; she could have backed out on her own at any time."

Qrow switched his Grimm Ripper into scythe mode and pointed it at Cinder.

"Now it's time for your decision. Give up now or I'll be forced to put you down."

Cinder responded by launching a fireball at Qrow. Qrow jumped out of the way as Schnee rolled away. Schnee decided to get up and run, letting Qrow handle Cinder for now. Cinder continued firing at Qrow, who used the recoil of his scythe to quickly dodge Cinder's attacks while getting himself closer to Cinder. Once Qrow was in range, he began to swing his scythe at Cinder. Cinder used her protective glyph to block Qrow's attacks, while creating columns of fire to attack Qrow. Qrow dodged the fire as the two went back and forth. With none of his swings doing any damage, Qrow quickly backed away and switched to gun mode, firing multiple shots at Cinder. Cinder blocked the shots and fired back. Qrow started running to avoid the blasts while simultaneously firing back.

With the battle stuck in a stalemate, it became clear to Qrow that the two were too evenly matched for the battle to end any time soon.

"We know each other too well," remarked Qrow.

"You don't know as much as you think Qrow," said Cinder. "If you did, we wouldn't be here in the first place!"

"You keep talking as if you knew Summer more than any of us. If you know so much about Summer, let me ask you this: would Summer approve of what you're doing right now?"

Cinder scowled as Qrow's question, beginning to power up for her next attack.

"Even if there was a just cause for killing someone, Summer would never do that, even against the people she hated the most. Imagine if you were the one to perish in that mission instead of her; do you think she would lash out like this?"

Cinder's eyes went wide as she stopped what she was doing to take in Qrow's words.

"I take it by your silence you agree. Unless you know something about her that I don't."

Cinder fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands, then started to cry. Qrow put away his weapon and approached Cinder.

"I'm sorry!" cried Cinder. "I just...it hurts me every time knowing she won't come back. I kept promising her I would save her, and I failed! I failed my partner!"

Qrow kneeled down and placed a hand on Cinder's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault Cinder. You did what you could. Now do the right thing and give up this rampage. For Summer's sake."

Cinder lifted her head up and nodded at Qrow. Qrow reached into his pocket and pulled out handcuffs, placing them on Cinder's wrists.

"I understand how you feel, but I still have to do this," said Qrow as he locked the cuffs on her.

"No you don't," said Cinder, placing her palms on Qrow's chest. "You can't really understand how I feel."

"I know, because you were partners and all. You can tell me more-"

Qrow suddenly felt his chest explode like a bomb went off. The force of Cinder's attack flung Qrow several feet back, singeing the front of his clothes and leaving a severe burn on his chest. Qrow grasped his chest with his right arm as if he was having a heart attack. Cinder stood back up, her trace of tears completely gone. She used her semblance to melt the handcuffs and snickered at Qrow's predicament.

"Like I said, you don't understand how I feel," said Cinder. "All this is about more than just Summer."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"Unfortunately, you won't live long enough to know."

Cinder powered up her aura to finish off Qrow. Cinder's surprise blast took a lot out of Qrow, turning him into a sitting duck. Cinder created a glyph under Qrow, planning to completely engulf him in flames and burn him to death.

Cinder released her attack as the flames shot up and engulfed Qrow. Cinder expected Qrow to scream upon burning to death, but Qrow was strangely silent. When the flames dispersed, Qrow suddenly found himself surrounded by a bright green barrier, protecting him from the flames. Qrow looked past Cinder to see the person responsible for saving him. Cinder turned around and was shocked and infuriated to see who it was.

"It's about you showed up Ozpin!" said Qrow.

"If you want to take out your anger on someone over Summer's death, take it out on me," said Ozpin. "I'm the one ultimately responsible for what happened."

"Oh Ozpin," said Cinder, grabbing Ozpin by his scarf. "You can't comprehend how much I hate you. But it's not just you, Qrow, and Schnee I despise; it's ALL of humanity."

Cinder let go of Ozpin and started to distance herself away from the two huntsmen as she explained her cause.

"You know the story of Man. Born from dust into an unforgiving world full of creatures of destruction; the creatures of Grimm. Soulless monsters who clashed with the humans, intent on returning Man's brief existence to the void. But Man was resourceful, intuitive, and passionate; they discovered Dust and fought back against the creatures of Grimm, bringing light to this world of darkness."

"Where are you going with this?" asked Ozpin.

"The story claims that Man brought light into a world of darkness; that Man was a force of good. But take a look around you Ozpin! Look what Man brought with his so called light! You see a free world; a world of peace and tranquility. I see a world of racism, violence, suffering, agony...and it's the creatures of Grimm we declare as the harbingers of darkness?

"We build kingdoms to protect ourselves from the darkness, and we train huntsmen and huntresses to fight as guardians to strengthen our kingdoms. That's what we keep telling ourselves, but it's all a lie! Man uses their kingdoms and its guardians to rage war against each other; to make others suffer to profit themselves. It is Man who is the true cause of suffering on this planet. They are the soulless monsters that are meant to be sent back to the void from whence they came.

"One day, be it by Faunas, Grimm, or Man himself, Man's time will come to an end, and I will be there to help bring the downfall. So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called 'free world', but take heed...there will be no victory in strength."

"...you're right, Cinder," said Ozpin. Qrow and Cinder were surprised to see Ozpin agree with what Cinder was saying.

"Don't tell me you're actually agreeing with her about all this!" said Qrow.

"Don't be ridiculous," replied Ozpin. "I meant about victory in strength. Victory will not come from strength alone. All this time, I only focused on strength and strategy to win our battles. I used to believe that was the reason Summer was our best huntress. I was such a fool."

Ozpin sighed and looked up to the stars.

"Summer wasn't a great huntress because of her abilities nor her intelligence. It was her passion...her determination...her love. She had a strong belief to bring peace to this world, whether it was through fighting off monsters or bridging peace between humans and Faunus alike. Summer was something none of us could rightfully call ourselves: a hero. We may have done heroic things, but not without committing grave sins. Somewhere along the way, our souls became tainted. But Summer...she was a pure soul, and she kept it that way even in her worst hour.

"As a huntsman or a huntress, it's so easy to lose faith in what you're fighting for. You go out into the world thinking you're going to do nothing but good, but quickly realize the horrible things you will eventually have to do. In the end, that was Summer's greatest strength all along: she never lost faith.

"You're right, Cinder; there will be no victory in strength. But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten."

At that moment, Ozpin pictured the girl in her red hood who shared her mother's silver eyes; the girl who looked up to her mother and wanted to grow up to be like her, even after she had passed away. Hopefully it would be more than looks that she inherited.

"Things that require a smaller, more honest soul."

Just as Ozpin finished, the sounds of sirens from Vale's firefighters and police began blurring from a distance. Cinder took it as her cue to leave. She created a pillar of fire to distract Qrow and Ozpin, and quickly ran off.

With the battle over, Ozpin walked over to Qrow and helped him back up.

"Sorry I was late," said Ozpin. "I know how annoyed you get about that."

"I'll let you off the hook this time," said Qrow, placing a hand on Ozpin's shoulder. "Glad to see you back my friend."

"Why did you let her go!" yelled Schnee as he was running up to them. "Did you suddenly forget what she did to my home?"

"You're welcome," replied Qrow sarcastically. "C'mon Ozpin, let's go before I suddenly decide to avenge Summer as well."

Ozpin lifted Qrow and left the manor, while Schnee continued to yell at them for failing to capture Cinder.

#

Goodwitch was cursing at herself while quickly walking through Beacon that morning. All the extra work she had to do with Ozpin gone had caused her to oversleep, and now she was going to be running a few minutes late. Even if it wasn't that much amount of time, she loathed being late.

Goodwitch walked into the headmaster office with her stack of papers when she noticed a familiar face sitting in her chair, sipping on his mug and looking like his old self again.

"Good morning Miss Goodwitch," said Ozpin. "It's not like you to be late."

"Professor Ozpin!" gasped Goodwitch. "What are you doing here?"

"I am the headmaster aren't I?"

"Technically you stopped being headmaster several days ago."

"That's what I thought, and I was going to ask you to help me get reassigned. But then I was looking through the drawers of my desk and I found this."

Ozpin pulled out the resignation papers he had left before deciding to leave Beacon for good.

"Have you kept my resignation papers here the whole time?"

"What of it?"

"So that means the board never actually received these papers, which means I was still headmaster this whole time."

"Huh," said Goodwitch, taking the papers from Ozpin. "I guess I made a grave paperwork error."

"First the tardiness, and now this? Perhaps you need some time off yourself."

"I'll consider it. Now on to business." Goodwitch dumped all her paperwork on Ozpin's desk. "We still have quite a lot of manuscripts and hunters missions to go through."

"Before we get to that," said Ozpin, pushing all the papers aside, "I've decided to make some changes around here, starting with this very important one."

Goodwitch took out her scroll and got ready to make note of Ozpin's announcement.

"From now on, we will no longer accept any missions involving fighting against non-Grimm parties. I've made many mistakes in my life, and turning my students and alumni into mercenaries was the worst. Never again."

"You realize this will have quite an impact on residues the school would receive?

"Somehow I think we'll survive."

"Understood. I'll inform the hunters station on our new stance."

"Thank you Miss Goodwitch. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got quite a lot of work to catch up on."

"Before I go professor, I'd like to give you something."

Goodwitch reached into one of the drawers in Ozpin's desk and pulled out a small box wrapped as a present, handing it to Ozpin. Ozpin opened the box and pulled out a picture frame, with the photo of him and his alumni already inside.

"I took the liberty of buying you a new frame along with restoring the original photo. Please do not recklessly break it like the previous one."

"Of course."

As Ozpin was looking over the photo, Goodwitch was about to leave Ozpin's office. Just when she reached the door, Ozpin decided to say one more thing.

"Oh, before you go Glynda..."

Hearing Ozpin call her by her first name caused Goodwitch to stop. She turned to face Ozpin, who stood up and walked over to her.

"Yes?" asked Goodwitch. Ozpin suddenly wrapped his arms around Goodwitch and hugged her tightly. Goodwitch was never the hugging type, but decided just this once to hug Ozpin back.

"Thank you for standing by me."

"Of course Professor Ozpin."

#

With their residence in Vale temporarily in repair, Schnee and his daughter had moved to their house in Atlas. As Schnee's servants were unpacking what was left of Schnee's belongings, Schnee was visited by an old friend of his, James Ironwood.

"Long time no see Schnee," greeted Ironwood. "Is this a bad time?"

"Not at all," said Schnee. "I could use a distraction after everything that happened last night."

"So I heard; and to think it was caused by some huntress rather than the Faunus."

"As far as I'm concerned, she might as well be leading those pack of mutts. Anyway, you said you had something that would be worth my time and money?"

"Indeed. Take a look."

Ironwood handed Schnee an envelope labeled "CLASSIFIED." Schnee opened up the envelope and looked at the papers inside. Inside were diagrams of children, but half of their body on the diagram appeared robotic, with details as to how each part would function. There were also blueprints of highly mechanized weaponry that would go with each child.

"So this is that top secret project you've been bragging about?" asked Schnee.

"We almost ready to begin building the prototypes," said Ironwood. "All we need now is the funding necessary."

Schnee put all the papers back in the envelope and handed it back to Ironwood. "I'll think about it."

#

Qrow was playing with the kids in their living room. Yang and Ruby were fighting Qrow with their foam weapons, while Qrow laid down helpless to do anything.

"Stop it please!" said Qrow. "I give up! I give up!"

"Yay!" shouted Ruby. "We win again!"

"Game's over girls. It's time for bed."

"C'mon Uncle Qrow, just one more hour pleeeeease?"

"Sorry Ruby, but if I let you stay up any longer, your father will never let me come here again."

Yang and Ruby went upstairs to change as Qrow tried to get up. His chest was still aching badly from the fight against Cinder. When the kids were smacking him with their fake weapons, he was only half pretending to be in pain. Qrow went upstairs into their bedroom to tuck Ruby in.

"Uncle Qrow, will you read me a bedtime story?" asked Ruby.

"All right," said Qrow. Qrow grabbed the first book he could find and started reading to Ruby. About five minutes into the story, Yang interrupted.

"Uncle Qrow, you can stop reading now," said Yang. Qrow looked over to see Ruby had quickly fallen asleep.

"And she wanted another hour," said Qrow, putting the book back on their shelf. "Goodnight girls."

"Uncle Qrow, can I ask you something?" said Yang.

"What is it?"

"Are you going to live with us now?"

Qrow sighed and sat at the edge of Yang's bed. "I'm afraid I can't do that. But I'll try to visit as much as I can. In the meantime Yang, I need you to do something very important."

"What is it?"

"Watch over your sister. Make sure she doesn't get into trouble, and always have her back. Think you can do that for me?"

"Okay."

"I'm glad," said Qrow, kissing Yang on the forehead. "Goodnight Yang."

Qrow exited the bedroom and went back downstairs, watching the news until their father would come home. The news was playing the same story all day of Cinder now being considered Vale's most wanted criminal.

As he was watching, he looked to the side of the couch to see a photo of Summer and the girls. In the photo, Summer was carrying Ruby on top of her shoulders while Ruby was wielding her toy axe. Qrow looked at Ruby pretending to be a huntress and smiled.

"Ruby, I have a feeling you're going to grow up to be a great huntress."


	7. Epilogue

_Present day_

Ozpin had returned from the police station. Goodwitch still couldn't believe that Ozpin decided right then and there to accept Ruby into Beacon, especially with tomorrow being the first day of the new school year. She would have yelled at him about all the paperwork and changes that needed to be made due to the eleventh hour decision of accepting a new student, but yelling at Ozpin wouldn't get that work done.

Just as Ozpin entered his office, he received a call on his scroll from Qrow.

"Ruby just told me the big news," said Qrow. "You really think she's ready for Beacon?"

"If she's anything like you, she'll be more than ready," said Ozpin. "She displayed an impressive set of skills during that robbery. I have to say, you've been teaching her very well."

"This isn't just about her skills, is it?" asked Qrow. "You want her there because you want to protect her yourself. Because you still feel guilty about Summer."

Ozpin sighed. Even over the phone, Qrow can read Ozpin like a book.

"Nothing gets past you, does it Qrow?"

"Ozpin, you don't need to do this to make it up to her."

"You said yourself the world needs more people like Summer Rose. So what's wrong with giving Ruby a head start in achieving that goal?"

"Just don't start giving her preferential treatment. That's the kind of thing that kills a kid's social life."

"I assure you I will not give her preferential treatment. I will test her just as hard as any other student that steps foot in Beacon."

"I'm going to hold you to that statement."

"On to other matters, that robbery featured the cameo of our old friend. Know what that's about?"

"Seems she formed an alliance with the Torchwick gang; haven't quite figured out why. I'll continue monitoring the situation with Cinder. I'll let you know if something new comes up."

"Thank you Qrow."

Ozpin hung up and sat at his desk, looking at the photo he kept there for eight years. Every day he looked at that photo, specifically at the huntress with the same silver eyes as Ruby Rose.

"I swear on my own life, I will not repeat the same mistake twice."

#

The next morning as the ships containing the new students began coming in, Ozpin was standing by the statue in the main pathway. The statue consisted of a huntsman and huntress standing tall over various Grimm. The statue was a somewhat recent addition to the school. When asking the sculptors to make the statue, Ozpin had given them his alumni photo and requested the huntress on the statue to resemble the silver eyed huntress in the photo.

As he was admiring the statue, Goodwitch came up to him with her latest report.

"There was another uprising caused by the White Fang," said Goodwitch. "These attacks are getting more frequent."

"So I've noticed."

"Then you know that this situation could escalate into another war; the one we thought we had put a stop to eight years ago."

"Let us pray it will not come to that."

"Don't you think it's a bit naive to just hope it doesn't happen?"

"I like to think of it as being optimistic," said Ozpin, turning his head back to the statue of the huntress. "Just like she would."

Goodwitch's scroll began to beep, reminding her it was time for the orientation speech.

"Professor, it's time for your speech to the new arrivals."

"Let's get it over with," sighed Ozpin. Ozpin hated making speeches, and he especially hated having to make one with everything going on with Cinder and the White Fang.

As Ozpin and Goodwitch were making their way to the auditorium, Ozpin turned back to the statue one last time. Despite it being made of stone, he can still see those silver eyes in the eyes of the huntress. Those eyes have been staring at him for the past eight years, constantly reminding him of his biggest mistake. Ozpin had tried his best to appease those eyes, but he never could. Nothing he did could make up for what he did.

But when he heard of Ruby Rose, it had to be a sign. This was his chance to finally make it up to Summer. Perhaps if Ozpin was there for her children, making sure they became great huntresses like she was, he could finally let go of the guilt.

And when that days comes, he can look at those silver eyes and finally be at peace with himself.


End file.
